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Sullivan's Campaign 

1779. 

Journals, Notes 

AND 

Biography. 

1879. 



COLLECTIONS 



OF 



CAYUGA COUNTY 



Historical Society. 



Number One 



1879. 






am 

12 Ag'09 



THE JOURNAL 



OF 

Lieut. John L. Hardenbergh 

OF THE 

Second New York Continental Regiment 

From May i to October 3, 1779, 
IN GENERAL SULLIVAN'S CAMPAIGN 

AGAINST THE 

Western Indians 

With an introduction, copious Historical Notes, and Maps of the Battle-field of Newtown 
and Groveland Ambuscade 

BY GEX'L JOHN S. CLARK 

And parts of other Journals never before published. 

Also a Biographical Sketch 

BY RET. CHARLES HAWLEY, D. D. 

President of the Society. 



AUBURN, N. Y. 
1879. 



TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES. 



Number 



^^^9 



KNAPP & PECK, 
Book, Job and C'ommercial Printers, 

AUBUBN.'N. Y. 



CONTENTS, 



Pages. 

Biographical, 7 to 19 

Introduction to Journals, - - - - - - 20 " 22 

Battle OF Newtown, Map, - -. - - - - - 44 " — 

Hardenbergh's Journal and Notes, - - - - 23 " 59 

General James Clinton's March, 60 " — 

Beatty's Journal and Notes. - - - - - - 61 " 63 

Groveland Ambuscade, Map, - 50 " — 

Expedition against the Cayugas, - - - - - 69 " 70 

Thomas Grant's Journal and Notes, - - - - 70 " 73 

George Grant's Journal and Notes, - - - - 73 " 75 

Colonel Dearborn's March, - 76 " 77 

Dearborn's Journal and Notes, - - - - - 77 " 81 

Indian Towns Destroyed, - - - - - - ' 82 " 87 

List of Journals and Narratives, SS " 94 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



John Leonard Hardenbergh, the author of the follow- 
ing Journal, was a' native of Rosenrlalc T'^lRtev Count}', in the 
Province of New York, born ni ine year 1748. He was the 
son of Leonard and Rachel Hardenbergh, and the youngest of 
seven children. The family name is one of the oldest in 
the State, and is prominent both in its colonial and revolu- 
tionary annals. ''-As early as 1644:, Arnoldus van Harden- 
bergh a ''free merchant" emigrated from Holland to Ncav 
Amsterdam "with a cargo of wares for sale in the colony." 
He was soon after selected as one of the original Nine Men 
of New Netherland, and served in this board frcm 1647 to 
1650.\ He was followed in, or about, the year 1652, by his 
brother Johannes van Hardenbergh, also a merchant from 
Amsterdam, who at this date was purchaser of "a house, lot 
and garden " on Manhattan Island. (Calendar, Hist. MSS. in 

' The original Nine Men were selected by the Director-General from eighteen dele- 
gates chosen by the people, and composed of merchants, burghers and farmers. Six of 
the nine retired annually and their places were filled by appointment from twelve of the 
"most notable citizens." Their powers were advisory and limited, as they were only 
to give advice on such propositions as the Director or his council might submit to them. 
The object of establishing such a Board, and as rehearsed in the colonial charter, was : 
" That the colony, and principally New Amsterdam, our capital, might continue to increase 
in good order, justice, police, population, prosperity and mutual harmony ; and be pro- 
vided with strong fortifications, a church, a school, trading places, harbor, .ind similar 
highly necessary public edifices and improvements ; that the honor of God and the wel- 
fare of our dear Fatherland to the best advantage of the Company and the prosperity of 
our good citizens be promoted ; and that the pure reformed religion as it is here in the 
churches of the Netherlands may be inculcated and preserved. " For farther account of 
the Nine Men and the part taken by Arnoldus van Hardenbergh in thf affairs of the col- 
ony, see Ool. Hi'^t. N. Y. I. 2.5.S. 261, 270, SO'i, 310, 318. 3i4. 



8 BIOGRAPHICAL. 

office of the Secretary of State, Albany, Part I, vol. iii). 

The branch of the family that was subsequently settled at 
Eosendale, is traced to the year 1706, when Johannes Harden- 
berah, with six others, obtained from the crown of Great 
Britain a grant of land which comprised, as computed at the 
time, 1,500,000 acres, located in aSTorthern Ulster, then in 
eluding a portion of the present county of Sullivan, — the 
western boundary extending to, or near the head of, the Del- 
aware river. The terminal syllable of the name, hergh^ indi- 
cates that the earlier ancestors in Holland were from the 
hills ; and it was quite natural that their descendants should 
have found permanent location in the hilly districts of Shen- 
daken and Shawangunk, stretching westward from the valley 
of the Hudson ; neither is it surprising that they should have 
loved freedom and have given their best efforts for its estab- 
lishment in their adopted land. 

At the outbreak of the Eevolution, Col. Johannes Harden- 
bergh, Jr. was placed at the head of the Committee of Safety 
for Ulster County — Kingston, its chief town, being at the 
time the seat of the New York Provincial Congress of which 
he was also a member. He had ranked as Colonel in the Eng- 
lish colonial service, and been active in military affairs as 
early as 1748, when Sir William Johnson was in command 
of the New York troops for the defence of the frontier 
against the French and Indians. He was also given com- 
mand by the Provincial Congress of one of the earliest regi- 
ments raised for the immediate defence of the Hudson above 
the Highlands, at the opening of the war of Independence, 
and from his experience and position was enabled to render 
distinguished service at that critical period. In 1786, three 
years after the return of peace, he removed from his farm in 
Posendale to New Brun-wick, N. J., to sj^end the remnant 
of his days with his son, Rev. Dr. Jacob R. Hardenbergh, the 
fii-at President of Rutger's College. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 9 

Leonard Hardenbergh, a younger brother of Col. Joliannes, 
Jr., and the father of the subject of this sketch, died July 7, 
1776, only three days after the adoption of the Declaration 
of Independence, and as his neighbors of the hardy A^eo- 
manry of Ulster, were leaving their harvests ungathered and 
marching to the defence of Fort Montgomer}-, one of the 
principal fortifications guarding the passes of the Hudson. 
In the official returns for the same month (July) the name of 
John L. Hardenbergh appears as First Lieutenant in the 
Second New York Militia under command of Col. Morris 
Graham, and assigned to the Brigade of Gen. George Clinton, 
who had remained in the Continental Congress to vote for 
the Declaration, when he hastened home to his command. 
Having served several months in this regiment raised under 
special call, Hardenbergh was commissioned Nov. 21, 177(3, 
First Lieutenant in the Second New York Continental Eeg- 
imeiit, under Col. Eudolphus Kitzema," who was superseded 
Nov. 30, 1776, by the appointment of Col. Philip Van Court- 
landt, a gallant officer and a personal friend of Washington 
whose confidence he shared to an unusual degree.^ The 
regiment had the previous month been in the battle of 
White Plains, under Lieutenant-Col. Weissenfels, where it 
did some hard fighting ; and was ordered by Washington to 
Fishkill for the winter, to be recruited and disciplined, and 
thus ready for active service in the Spring. But few enlist- 

2 Col. Ritzema was a Hollander by birth, and educated as a soldier in the Prussian 
arm3\ Being refused the advancement to which he deemed himself entitled, he left the 
American service, but not before he was suspected of disaffection, if not of treachery. 
During the battle of White Plains, where his regiment was engaged, he was some four or 
five miles away, and was shortly after displaced from his command. He subsequently 
joined the British army. 

3 Col. Van Courtlandt gives the following account of the manner of his appointment : 
"This commission was sent by General Washington, by express, and was of his own 
" direction, having been furnished with blanks from Congress signed by John Hancock, 
" President, for him to fill up as he thought proper, appointing me Colonel of the Sec- 
" ond New York Regiment, dated November 30, 1776." Autobiography, &c. The Mag- 
azine of American History for May, 1878. 



10 BIOGRAPHICAL. 

ments, however, were obtained, though several recruiting 
parties were sent out for the purpose ; and in the Spring of 
1777, it was ordered to Peekskill, a point for the collection 
of military stores, and where at this time large quantities had 
been gathered under protection of Greneral McDougall's brig- 
ade. Soon after, a fleet of ten British ships or transports 
appeared in Peekskill Bay, and landed a force of five hun- 
dred men with four pieces of artillery, which compelled Gen. 
McDougall, who had scarcely half that number of troops, to 
retreat to Grallows Hill, about ten miles in the rear, leaving 
what stores could not be removed, in the hands of the enemy, 
who remained in possession of the town until McDougall 
was reinforced, when they retired to their ships and returned 
to New York. 

After several weeks of hard and perilous service. Col. Van 
Courtlandt with his regiment, was ordered to Albany and 
thence to the relief of Fort Stanwix, then besieged by Colonel 
St. Leger with a party of Indians ; but on information that 
the enemy had retired, he joined General Poor, then on the 
advance to Stillwater, to whose brigade the regiment became 
attached, and thus made a part of General Arnold's command, 
forming a portion of the left wing in the first battle of Still- 
water, which was fought on the 19tli of September. The loss 
of killed and wounded of the Second New York was two out 
of eleven, which was a larger proportion than of any other 
regiment engaged, the next largest being that of Col. Cilley's 
First New Hampshire, which was one out of seven, all of 
General Poor's Brigade.^ At the second battle, which oc- 
curred on the 7th of October, the regiment sustained its rep- 
utation for determined bravery and hard fighting, and thus 
bore an honorable x)art in the most important engagement, 
thus far, of the war, the results of which changed the whole 
aspect of the American cause. 



4 Autobiograpby of General Van Courtlandt. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 11 

After the battle of Stillwater, whicli compelled the surren- 
der of Biirgojaie, and rendered fruitless the previous successes 
of the enemy along the Hudson, the regiment returned to 
Fishkill, and soon joined the army under Washington, then 
confronted by the British forces under General Howe, in the 
vicinity of Philadelpliia. It shared the privations and suf- 
ferings of the terrible winter encampment at Yalley Forge, 
(1777-8) the march to which of the half naked, half-sta-rved, 
shoeless army might be tracked in blood through the Decem- 
ber snows. It appears from an orderly book^ found among 
the papers of Colonel, afterwards Gen. Henry Dearborn, also 
in the Sullivan expedition, that at Yalley Forge, Harden- 
bergh ,was Lieutenant and Adjutant of his regiment and 
often served as Adjutant of the Day at Head Quarters. The 
wliole encampment consisted of about eleven thousand 
troops ; and when it was broken up the following Spring, up- 
wards of three thousand men unfit for duty were left behind, 
under charge of Colonel Van Courtlandt, while his regiment 
proceeded with the main army, and participated in the battle 
of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, winning commendation for 
bravery and good behavior in that hotly contested engage- 
ment. 

While at camp with the main army at White Plains the 
same season, the Second New York Regiment was sent to 
guard the frontiers in Ulster County against the depredations 
of the Indians under Brant, who had already destroyed several 
houses and murdered men,women and children. It remained 
in the neighborhood of Laghawack, on this duty, during the 
winter of 1778-79 ; and in the Spring while on the march to 
surprise Brant stationed on the Delaware with about one 
hundred and fifty Indians, an express from General Wash- 
ington overtook the regiment with orders to proceed to Fort 
Penn, there to await orders from General Sullivan. It is at 

5 Mss. in possession of Mr. Jotin H. Osborne, of Auburn, N. Y. 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL. 

this point that the Journal of Lieutenant Hardenbergh, here- 
with pubhshed, dates. 

On its return from the Expedition, the regiment proceeded 
to Easton, Pennsylvania, and from thence to Morristown, N". 
J., where it was hutted for the winter. In the spring of 
1780 it was sent to Fort Edward for temporary service, and 
in June proceeded to West Point, and in expectation of an 
attack from the enemy, was posted on the mountain west of 
Fort Putnam. This proved, however, to be a feint to cover 
an invasion of the Jerseys. During the treason of Arnold 
the regiment was at Tappan, whither Andre was taken af- 
ter his capture, and where he was tried and executed. 

From the autumn of 1776 to the winter of 1780, Lieuten- 
ant Hardenbergh was identified with the Second New York, 
sharing its fortunes, and participating in the important bat- 
tles in which it was engaged, when the five New York regi- 
ments were consolidated into two, in which arrangement he 
fell into that class of officers who were retained in service 
but not attached to any battalion. But in July 1782 he was 
made Captain of Levies under Lieut. Col. Weissenfels, in 
which capacity he continued for the remainder of the war. 

In the summer of 1781, he is accredited in the chronicles 
of the time, with a daring exploit, which indicates the kind 
of service in which he was engaged after he ceased to be at- 
tached to the Second New York. A body of three hundred 
Indians and ninety Tories under Captain Cauldwell, an of- 
ficer in Butler's Rangers, appeared on the frontier of Ulster 
County, in the neighborhood of Warwasing, having passed 
unobserved the stockade forts at the north of Lackawaxen 
and Neversink, expecting to surprise the settlements and re- 
peat the scenes of massacre which had desolated other regions 
in the vicinity. Captain Hardenbergh, at the time, was sta- 
tioned with a guard of nine* men, near the house of J. Gr. Har- 

6 Some accounts make the number even less. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 13 

denbergli,'' and at a point some three miles distant from a 
small fortress at Warwasing. As the enemy passed the fort 
just before the break of day they were fired upon by the sen- 
tinel. The report alarmed Captain Hardenbergh, who with 
his little band proceeded immediately in direction of the 
sound, and on his way met the enemy directing their 
course toward the settlement, which is now called Rochester. 
Nothing daunted he gave them battle; but being closely 
pressed he soon discovered that his retreat was cut off by a 
party of Indians who had gained his rear. In this dilemma 
the Captain resorted to stratagem which admirably answered 
the purpose. It was as yet barely light, and turning aside 
in the woods with the little company, to conceal the small- 
ness of his force, he took off his hat and huzzaed with all his 
mio-ht, at the same time ad\'ancing toward a small stone house 
near by, and in face of the Indians, who supposing that the 
troops were coming up from Pinebush, took the alarm and 
skulked off in every direction. But no sooner had Harden- 
Ijergh and his company reached the house, when the Indians' 
discovering the ruse, poured a shower of bullets after them 
just as the}^ were safely within the door. Here they found 
six militia men besides, making sixteen in all, and being well 
armed, made all preparations to hold their position against 
the invaders. With an ax they broke a series of loop-holes 
in the rear of the house and through the sides of the steep 
roof, thus commanding its approaches on all sides. The en- 
emy advanced several times to carry the house by assault, 

' This house was pillaged about the same time, and large quantities of clothing and 
vegetables taken by the Indians. One Indian, a chief, emerged from the scene of plunder, 
mounted on a horse taken from the stable, profusely arrayed in stolen apparel, with 
silver bands about his arms and a bunch of some forty silver broaches hanging about 
his person. He was discovered by some soldiers who were on the alert to get a shot at 
the invaders as they were leaving the place, when one levelled his rifle at him and fired. 
He was seen to lay over on his horse, but turning into the woods, disappeared. Some 
time after, his body was found near the place where he was shot with his plunder still 
about him. Narrative of Massacres and Depredations in Wawarsing, &,c., dc, Eon- 
dout, 1846. 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL. 

but as some of their number were doomed to fall at every 
onset, tliey as often gave way, and at lengtli were compelled 
to relinquish the attack, leaving thirteen dead upon the field. 
In the meanwhile the firing had aroused the neighborhood, 
and Col. Henrj^ Pawling with a detachment of State- Levies, 
stationed about six miles from the scene of action, hastened 
forward, but arrived too late to have a brush with the enemy, 
and only in season to capture a straggler, who had lingered 
for fruit, near an apple orchard. Cauldwell was in full re- 
treat, and though pursued by Colonel Pawling with' his reg- 
iment of Levies and Colonel Cantine with a regiment of State 
Militia, for some daj^s, finally escaped. The enemy, however, 
suffered severely and besides losing a number of men, were 
so near starvation that they were obliged to eat their dogs 
before they reached Niagara, the point from which thej^ had 
started on their errand of pillage and murder. This was the 
last attempt of the kind made upon the frontier settlements, 
which had suffered so severely from repeated invasions of 
Indians and Tories during the Revolution. It was de- 
signed to be a finishing blow upon that region, and as we 
have seen, it was largely due to the bravery and militar}' tact 
of Captain Hardenbergh that the stroke was averted.* 

At the close of the war, during the entire period of which 
he had been in active service, he returned to his native place, 
to share the fi'uits of Independence with joeace, which he 
had done so much to secure. He had justly acquired the 
reputation of a brave and skillful officer, and his name still 
appears on the Roll of Honor in the cabinet of Revolution- 
ary memorials kept at Washington's Head-Quarters at New- 
burgh. He was for a time -on Washington's staff; and his 
whole record is that of a devoted patriot and a faithful sol- 

s Skine's Life of Brant. Xarrative of Missacre^ and Depredations in Wawarmig, dc, 
(ix., Eondout, 1846. 



i 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 15 

dier, at a time when the country needed every heart and hand 
for its defence. 

In 1789, the Indian titles to most of the Lands in the State 
of New York, having been extinguished, the Legislature 
provided for the survey of a certain portion of these lands, 
already set apart for the soldiers of the State, who had served 
in the war of the Revolution. This tract embracing 1,680,- 
000 acres, and denominated the Military Tract, included the 
present counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Cortland, 
also the larger part of Tompkins with portions of Oswego 
and Wayne. It was surveyed into twenty-eight townships, 
containing each one hundred lots of six hundred acres. 
Each private soldier and non-commissioned officer had one 
lot assigned him. The officers received larger shares in pro- 
portion to their rank. Colonel Hardenbergh was appointed 
on this survey, in immediate association with Moses Dewitt, 
brother of Simeon Dewitt, at the time Surveyor-Greneral of the 
State, and was occupied in this work during the years 1789- 
90. His field books, neatly kept and carefully preserved, are 
now "in possession of .the Caj'uga County Historical Society, 
one of several valuable donations from the family to the So- 
ciety's archives. The lauds which fell to him on the assign- 
ment of military bounties, were located in Onondaga, dis- 
posing of which, he purchased lot Forty-Seven, within the 
present limits of Auburn, from Ogden and Josiah Hoffman, 
and originall}^ patented to Captain Thomas Doughty also of 
the Second New York. The deed bears date Feb. 16, 1792, 
and the consideration was one hundred and eighty pounds 
N. Y. currenc}'. Colonel Hardenbergh was familiar as a 
survej^or with its comparative .advantages, for a settlement, 
and especially with its superior w^ater power, and had al- 
ready indicated the lot on his map of survey as a "good 
mill site." He came on to his lands the same year (1792) 
bringing with him several negro slaves, and built a bark shel- 



16 BIOGRAPHICAL. 

ter near the site of the present Hardenbergh mansion, and on 
tlie spot where the City Hall now stands. He made a visit 
in the fall or winter of that year, to Eosendale and was united 
in marriage to Mary Bevier, also of one of the most sub- 
stantial and prominent families of that part of the State, and 
soon after returned to make further preparations for a per- 
manent home. This year also he received a commission as 
Major in the Battalion of Herkimer County, having previ- 
ouslv been appointed a Captain in a Battalion for Montgom- 
ery, which until 1791 included the counties of Herkimer and 
Tioga. He was also appointed, in 1793, by Governor George 
Clinton, his old Brigade commander on the Hudson in the 
beginning of the war, an Associate Justice for Herkimer 
County, and designated the same year as one of the three 
Commissioners to lay out and construct the Genesee Turn- 
pike. His last military promotion was that of Lieutenant 
Colonel of a regiment of Militia in Onondaga County, in 
April, 1796, by Governor John Jay, and gave him the title 
of Colonel, by which he is most commonly known in the 
early annals of Auburn. 

In 1791 he had completed a saw and grist mill, on the 
Owasco Outlet, near where the Stone Mill now stands, oppo- 
site the junction of Genesee and Market Streets, thus form- 
ing the nucleus of a settlement known as Hardenbergh's 
Corners until 1805, when it took the name of Auburn. 

The death of his wife occurred in the Spring, a little more 
than a year after their marriage, leaving an infant daughter, 
and before his arrangements were complete for bringing them 
to their new home in the wilderness. 

In 1795 a colony of ten families from Gettysburgh, Pa., 
made a settlement about three miles up the Owasco Lake, 
and at once organized a Keformed Protestant Dutch Church, 
which subsequently took corporate form and title, Sept. 23, 
1796, at a meeting held at the house of Colonel Harden- 



BIOGRAPHICAL, 17 

bergh, who identified himself with this society in the faith 
and order of wliich he had been educated. His copy of the 
jSTew Testament with the Psabiis in a single volume, and in 
the Dutch language, is still preserved ; and bearing on the 
flv-leaf, under his own signature, the same date with that of 
his first army commission, it shows the signs of ordinary use 
not only, but the unmistakable marks ■ of the exposure and 
hardships incident to a soldier's life. 

His second marriage, in 1796, was with Martina, daughter 
of Rcelifl: Brinkerhoff, one of the first deacons of the Owasco 
church, and the names of his two children by this marriage, 
Maria and John Herring, appear on the baptismal register 
of that church for the years 1798 and 1800. The only, son, 
John H. Hardenbergh, was in subsequent years one of Au- 
burn's most prominent and public spirited citizens. As the 
heir to the landed estate of his father, originally covering a 
large section of the territory now occupied by the cit}*, his 
wise and generous policy toward purchasers of lots and ten- 
ants, contributed much to its growth and })rosperity. The 
lot, in the centre of the city, on which stands the First Pres- 
byterian church, one of the most substantial and elegant 
structures of the kind in the State, if not in the country, was 
his gift, before he had become of age ; as were also eight 
acres of land comprised in the spacious grounds occujiied by 
the Auburn Theological Seminary. These and similar deeds 
of generous foresight, together with an amiable character and 
a blameless Christian life, preserve in esteem and honor the 
name so closely identified with the origin of our favored city. 

Colonel Hardenbergh died after a brief illness, on the 2oth 
of April, 1806, in the 59th year of his age, and was buried 
with military honors in the ISTorth Street Cemetery. The 
Eev. David Higgins, then pastor of the Congregational 
Church of Aurelius, and the founder of the First Presbyte- 
rian Church of Auburn, preached the funeral sermon from 



18 BIOGRAPHICAL. 

the Epistle to the Philippians, hi; 20, 21: For our conversa- 
tion is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the 
Lord Jesus Christy ivho shall change our vile body that it may 
he fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the ivorking 
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself The 
horse bearing the sword and uniform of the deceased officer, 
was led by Harry Freeman, one of the Colonel's slaves to 
whom he had given his freedom. A long procession of 'mil- 
itary and citizens followed the remains to the grave. The 
whole scene was imposing, as a sincere tribute of the respect 
and esteem cherished for the man who had braved the perils 
of the then recent struggle for national independence, and 
with generous hand had laid the foundations, in the wilder- 
ness, of a well-ordered community. He had passed thirty 
years of his life as a soldier, a surveyor, and a pioneer settler, 
and had occupied the most responsible trusts in the rising 
settlement which owed to him its origin. He was moreover 
a great favorite with his fellow pioneers, and with all who 
were seeking new homes in tlie immediate vicinity, ambi- 
tious rather for the thrift of the place than for personal gains, 
or the promotion of selfish ends — forward and generous in 
all plans to establish religion, education, justice and good or- 
.der, with whatever tended to the permanent prosperity and 
true character of the infant settlement. He was not always 
careful of his own interests, and was sometimes imposed ujd- 
on by those in whom he confided as if they were as trust- 
worthy as himself. If a neighbor wanted a bushel or two 
of grain, he might be trusted to measure it himself and ren- 
der his own account. In this way and in others character- 
istic of him, he doubtless now and then lost pecuniarily, but 
they gave him a strong hold upon the better and larger class 
of his co-pioneers, and a leading influence at this forming 
period in our history. Indeed, Auburn owes very much to 
the spirit, foresight and enterprise of its founder. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 19 

In person, Colonel Ilardenbergli was tall, of swarthy com- 
plexion, robust frame, and is said to have been a most com- 
manding figure on horseback, in his regimentals, on military 
occasions. He took an active part in tlie ])olitics of the day, 
and was decided and 02:)en in the expression of his opin- 
ions. He was a warm friend and ardent supporter of Grov- 
ernor George Clinton, under wliom he had served in the 
first year of the war, and whose confidence he largely shared 
in the distribution of military promotions and civil appoint- 
ments. A sturdy patriot, a brave soldier, a civilian, honored 
and trusted in public station and in private life, he has fairly 
won the gratitude with which communities are wont to re- 
member their founders. 



INmODUCTION TO JOURMLS. 



The following is printed from the original manuscript, in 
possessson of the family, in the hand-writing of Lieutenant 
Hardenbergh, undoubtedly an original journal made by 
him during the campaign of General Sullivan against the 
Indians. 

The route covered by the Journal, begins at Wawarsing, 
in Ulster County, New York, passing south-westerly along 
the Mine road and Delaware river to Stroudsburg, Penn. ; 
thence westerly over the mountains, by the Sullivan road to 
Wilkesbarre; thence up the Susquehanna river to Tioga 
Point near present Athens, where General Clinton's brigade 
on August 22d, joined the main army ; thence up the Che- 
mung river to present Elmira, and northerly to Havana; 
thence along the east shore of Seneca lake to present Geneva, 
and by way of Canandaigua, Honeoye, and Conesus to the 
Genesee river near present Cuylerville, in Livingston county, 
where was found the great Seneca town of Chenandoanes, 
or Genesee Castle, the most westerly point reached by the 
expedition. 

The return was over nearly the same route to Easton, and 
thence up the Delaware to Morristown, N. J., where the reg- 
iment went into winter quarters. 

Li addition to Lieutenant Hardenbergh's journal, will be 
found that part of the journal of Major Erkuries Beatty, 
which relates to the march of General Clinton's brigade from 



INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALS. 21 

the valley of the Mohawk, d,own the Susquehanna river to 
join General Sullivan at Tioga Point. 

On the return march, Sept. 20th, when the army reached 
Kanadasega, an Indian town near present Greneva, Lieuten- 
ant Colonel AVilliara Butler commanding the Fourth Penn- 
sylvania regiment, was detached with six hundred men, with 
orders to proceed around the north end of Cayuga lake, and 
devastate the Indian settlements on the east side. Thomas 
Grant accompanied this detachment ; that portion of his 
journal which relates to the operations of this foi'ce, is also 
presented. 

On the next day, September 21st, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Henry Dearborn commanding the third New Hami^shire 
regiment, with two hundred and fifty men, was detached to 
proceed along the west shore of Cayuga lake to complete the 
destruction in that quarter. That part of Colonel Dearborn's 
journal describing his operations on this march, also apj^ears. 
The journals of Lieutenant Hardenbergh, Major Beattv and 
Colonel Dearborn, have not hitherto a])peared in print. 

Notes have been added mostly from cotemporary writers 
illustrating the text, and giving descriptions of events and 
places mentioned, also introducing, at the proper place, de- 
scriptions of important matters referred to and described in 
other journals, but not appearing in any of the preceding. 

Especial attention has been given to the descriptions of 
Indian towns, and it is confidently believed, that here for the 
first time, can be found, at least, an approximation to a com- 
plete list, and the exact location of the entire number de- 
stroyed. The descriptions in nearly all cases are from per- 
sonal knowledge obtained by actual survey ; the evidences of 
aboriginal occupation being plainly apparent. 

The maps and descriptions of the battle field of Newtown, 
and of the Groveland ambuscade, it is believed will be an 
important addition to the literature of the campaign, and a 



22 INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALS. 

valuable aid to those engaged in its study ; and will present 
a more correct description of these important matters than 
has hitherto appeared in print. The conclusions reached, are 
the result of a most patient examination of all authorities ac- 
cessible, and will be likely to stand the test of the most in- 
telligent and critical scrutiny. The list of journals and nar- 
ratives relating to this campaign, though not as perfect as 
mia;ht be desired, will be found useful to those who wish to 
obtain authentic sources of information, and undoubtedly, 
many will be surprised to learn that so much original material 
is in existence and accessible. 

The text of the several journals, has been followed liter- 
ally, from the original manuscript when possible. Proper 
names, especially those of Indian towns, even in the same 
manuscript, are often found with material variations in spell- 
ing, and in many instances, different authors give entirely 
different names for the same place; in other cases wrong 
names are applied, and frequently are transposed. The great 
Seneca town, on the Genesee river, is honored with several 
distinct names, one of which has seventy variations in spell- 
ing ; and Appletown has three distinct locations, several 
miles distant from each other. Care has been taken, to avoid 
confusion as much as possible, by explanations in the notes, 
and in the use of names most in accord with those in 
modern use. 



JOUENAL OF THE CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR 
1779, COAtMENCING MAY 1st. 



Saturdaj^, May ye first. — Drew out of our Winter Quar- 
ters at Wawasink^ and encamped in a field near Jacobus 
Brown's at tliat place. 

Sunday, May 2nd. — Laid still in camp. 

Monday" 3d. — Drew provisions and prepared for a march. 

Tuesday, -Ith. — Struck our tents. Loaded our baggage 
in order to proceed on our march for Weyoming, but being 
alarmed by ah express that the savages were murdering the 
inhabitants at Fantine Kille,"^ about five miles in our front, 

V Wawabsing— An Indian word, said to signify "a black bird's nest," the name of a 
town and village in south-west part of Ulster Count3', N. Y., containing a post village 
of same name, located on Rondout Creek on the line of the Delaware and Hudson 
Canal. The surface of the town is mostly mountainous uplands, intersected by deep val- 
leys. The Shawangunk Mountains extend along the east border, and cpurs of the Cats- 
kills occupy the central and west parts, the highest peaks being from 2,000 to 3,000 feet 
above tide. The eastern and north-western parts are rocky and precipitous, and unfit 
for cultivation. There was a stone fort in the village on the site of B. C. Hornbeck's 
house. On Aug. 13, 1781, a large party of tories and Indians under one Caldwell, ap- 
peared in the town with a design of falling upon Napanock, but being informed that 
the place was defended by cannon they came to Wawarsing before the inhabitants were 
up in the morning. Two men and a young woman discovered the enemy before they 
reached the fort, and the young woman succeeded in closing the door Justin time to 
prevent it from being burst open by the savages. Finding further attack to be danger- 
ous they dispersed and burned and plundered the out settlements, and next daj' with- 
drew laden with spoils. Several lives were lost on both sides and much property de- 
stroyed. — [The Indians — or Narratives of Massacres arid Depredations on the frontiers 
of Wawarsink and Vicinity, p. 21. 

1" Fantine Kill, a settlement, on a stream of that name, about a mile from the pres- 
ent village of Ellenville, in the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County. The attack was 
made at day-break by a party of thirty or forty Indians under Brant, who came by the 
way of the Indian trail to Grahams ville, and from thence through the woods to the set 



24 HARDENBERGHS JOURNAL. 

Coll. Cortlandt marclied to tlieir assistance, but before we ar- 
rived at the place they were gone. At -i in tlie afternoon 
returned to "VVawasink and remained in houses." 

Wednesday, 5th. — Remained in the Quarters of yesterday. 

Thursday, 6th. ''^ — At 7 in the morning loaded baggage, 
marched to Lurenkiir^ and halted at Broadhead's'^ for re- 
freshment about two hours, and marched for Mamacot- 
ting,^° where we arrived at 7 o'clock at night. 



tlement. Widow Isaac Bevier and two sons were killed, also the entire family of 
Michael Socks, consisting of the father, mother, two sons who were young men, two 
children, and one or two others. They attacked the house of Jesse Bevier, but the in- 
mates being good marksmen and having plenty of ammunition succeeded in defending 
themselves until Col. Van Cortlandt came to their relief. 

" As I was about marching from my encampment, having called in my guard, I dis- 
covered smokes rising from the village about six miles south, and a lad sent from its 
vicinity informed me that the Indians were there burning and destroying. It was oc- 
casioned by two of my men deserting in the mountains, when I received the order to 
return ; for they went to Brant and informed him that I was ordered away, and he ex- 
pected that I was gone. * * * On my approach Brant ran off. He had about one 
hundred and fifty Indians, and as I approached him, he being on a hill, and seeine me 
leaning against a pine tree waiting for the closing up of my men, ordered a rifle In 
dian to kill me, but he overshot me, the ball passing three inches over my head."— 
[Col. Van Cortlandt's manuscript statement, 1825. 

" General, while you were standing by a large tree during that battle, how near to your 
head did a bullet come, which struck a little above you ? '" 

The General paused for a moment, and replied— "About two inches above my hat." 

Brant then related the circumstances. " I had remarked your activity in the battle," 
said he, " and calling one of my best marksmen, pointed you out and directed him to 
bring you down. He fired and I saw you dodge your head at the instant I supposed the 
i ball would strike. But as you did not fall, I told my warrior that he had just missed 
you, and lodged the ball in the tree." Conversation between Brant and General Van 
Cortlandt— [Stone's life of Brant, II., 460,] incorrectly located at the battle of Newtown 

11 "Col. Cantine commanding a regiment of militia arrived during the day. I then 
pursued but could not overtake him, as he ran through a large swamp beyond the hill ; 
and Col. Cantine being also in pursuit, I returned, not having any prospect of overtak- 
ing him." [Col. Van Cortlandt's statement, 1825. 

12 " The second day after, pursued my march to Fort Penn as ordered by the com- 
mander-in-chief, and there received General Sullivan's orders to make a road through 
the wilderness." [Col. Van Cortlandt's statement, 1825. 

13 The present name of a stream flowing south-easterly two miles south of Ellenville. 

u On the Lurenkil two miles south of Ellenville. 

15 Present Wurtzbobo in town of Mamacating on Sauthier's Map of 1779. said to have 
been named in honor of an Indian chief, is about fourteen miles south-west of Wawar- 
eing. A block house was here occupied during the revolution. 



HARDENBERGH S JOURNAL, 25 

Friday, 7tb. — At 4 struck tents, marched at 5, halted at 
Bashesland for refreshment for about two hours, proceeded 
on our march. Crossed Denanasink" Creek at Dewitt's'^ and 
arrived at Major Decker's, crossed the creek with wagons 
and encamped in the field near Decker's house. 

Saturday, May 8th. — Drew provisions ; marched at about 
11 o'clock and encamped at Haurnanack.'*' 
• Sunday, 9th. — Discharged four wagons which we had taken 
from Wawasink; loaded our provisions on board the canoes, 
sent them down the Delaware. At 8 o'clock in the morning 
began our march ; marched to Esquire Yancamp's ;■" the 
weather very hot, we rested ourselves and marched for Deck- 
er's Ferry" on Delaware, where we arrived at sundown and 
encamped. - 

Monday, 10th. — Laid still for refreshment and washing. 

Tuesday, 11th. — Struck tents and marched at 7 in the 
morning ; got over the ferry, proceeded on our march ; rested 



16 West Brookville, formerly called Bashusville, near the southern line of town 
of Mamakating in Sullivan County. So called from a squaw named Bashe, who lived 
on the bank of the creek. The flrst house built was of stone and used as a fort. 

1' M.\HACKAMACK or Ncversink River, the crossing appears to have been near Cud- 
debackville in the town of Deer Park. 

18 DeWitt— A brother of Mrs. James Clinton, the mother of DeWitt Clinton ; where ' 
he is said to have been bom, March 2, 1769, while Mrs. Clinton was on a visit with her 
brother. General James Clinton in 1763 raised and commanded a corps of two hundred 
men, called the Guards of the Frontier. This position called Fort De Witt was one of 
the posts occupied. Other accounts say he was born at the homestead of the Clinton 
family at Little Britain. 

1^ Now Port Jervis, formerly called Mohockamack Fork, at the junction of the Nev- 
ersink and Delaware Rivers. Tlie route taken appears to have been over the " old mine 
road " as it was called, constructed by the early Dutch settlers of Esopus to reach a cop- 
per mine in Walpack Township, Warren Co., N. J. It follows the Mamakating Valley, 
the first north of the Shawangunk mountains, and continues in that of the Mahack- 
amack branch of the Delaware river, and penetrates the Minnisinks east of that river. 
The mine was about three miles north-west from Nicholas Depew's house. 

20 John Adams, while attending Congress during its session at Philadelphia, as late as 
1800, passed over this same " Mine Road " as the most eligible route from Boston to that 
city. He was accustomed to lodge at Squire Van Campen's in the Jersey Minnisinks. 

-1 Decker's Ferry at Flatbrookville, about thirteen miles from Fort Penn at 
Stroudsburg. 



26 hardenbergh's journal. 

for refreshments, at Smitlifield at or near Depew's,"- at 5 p. 
]\i. ; marched for Fort Penn where we arrived at dusk of the 
evening. 

May 12th and 13th. — Laid still at Fort Penn'^'^ on account 
of rainy weather. 

Friday, May 11th, 1779. — The weather clear, we received 
orders to march at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Struck tents, 
marched for Learn's ;-■* marched about five miles and en- 
camped in the wood. 

Saturday, 15th. — About 7 in the morning struck tents 
and marched to Learn's ; pitched camp, and proceeded with 
a party to mend the road to Weyoming."^ 

'■i'i Samuel Depew's, in the town of Smithfleld, Monroe Co., Pa., on the west side of 
the Delaware, three miles above the Water Gap, where he settled prior to 1730. He was 
one of the Walloons who came to New York about 1697. Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg, who 
lodged at his house in 1750, states he had been Justice of the Peace, was a prominent 
man in Smithfleld, and at that time advanced in life. The river is fordabls at the head 
of Depew's Island, a little above the house. The old homestead is still in the Depew 
family ; Nicholas, one of Samuel's sons, is well known in provincial history between 
1750 and 1770. On the Pennsylvania side of the river on Depew's land, stood the 
Smithfleld or old Shawm church, removed about 1854. 

23 Ft. Penn, at Stroudsburg, Monroe County, Pa., built in 1763, on the site previously 
occupied by Ft. Hamilton, built in 1765. 

-* L.\rned's log tavern, north-west of Stroudsburg, twenty-eight miles from Easton. 
The main army encamped here June 19th, at camp called Pocono Point. This was the 
last house on the road between Easton and Wyoming. On the 3d of July, 1781, Mr. 
Larned was shot and scalped near his house, as also was his son George. Another son, 
John, shot one of the Indians who was left on the spot where he fell. The Indians car- 
ried off George Larned's wife, and an infant four months old, but not wishing to be en- 
cumbered with the child, dashed out its brains. 

-5 The 2d New York Regiment, Col. Van Cortlandt, and Col. Spencer's N. J. Regiment 
were ordered to precede the army and construct a road over the mountains to Wyoming. 
They followed the well known Indian trails mainly, one of which led from Easton by 
way of the Wind Gap, directly north, along the high lands between the Delaware and 
Susquehanna rivers, to New York State line near Oghquaga ; the other leaving Fort 
Penn at Stroudsburg, passed through the townships of Pocono, Tunkhanna, Tobyhanna, 
Buck, Bear Creek, to Wyoming. Much of this road is still in use and is known as the 
" old Sullivan road." At Easton Gen. Sullivan published the following order : 

Head-Quarters, Easton, May 31, 1779. 

* * * The commander-in-chief returns his most sincere thanks to Colonels Cort- 
landt and Spencer, and to the ofHcers and soldiers under their command for their un- 
paralleled exertions in clearing and repairing the road to Wyoming. He cannot help 
promising himself success in an expedition, in which he is to \>e honored with the com- 
mand of troops who give such pleasing evidence of their zeal for the service, and mani- 



hardenbergh's journal. 27 

Sunday, 16tli. — Our camp remained, and were joined by 
Coll. Spencer's''* regiment; we continued making the road. 
At night seven men deserted from our regiment.'-'' 

Monday, 17th. — Decamped from Learn's about 7 in the 
morning, and encamjDcd at about 7 o'clock in the afternoon, 
just on the west side of a small creek called White Oak 
Kun.'-'^ 

Tuesday, 18th. — Our camp remained; we continued work- 
ing on the road; I was ordered to remain in camp with the 
guard. 

Wednesday, 19th. — Last night about 11 o'clock, an alarm 
happened by the firing of one of the sentinels, but soon found 
it to be false alarm.'"^ The weather being wet, we remained 
in camp all day. 

fest 80 strong a desire to advance with expedition against the inhuman murderers of 
their friends and countrymen. * * * * 

Order Book Lieu. -Col. George C. Barber, of 3d N. J. Regt., 
Adjutant Gen'I of the Western Army. 

'-''' Col. Oliver Spencer, Commanding the Independent regiment, 5tli Continental of 
New Jersey. 

■-'" General Sullivan reached Wyoming witii the main body of the army June 23d ; the 
following appeared in orders on the 25th : 

Head- Quarters, Wyoming, June 25. 1779. 

* * * At a general court martial held on the eighth instant, whereof Major Fish 
was president, Oliver Arnold of the 2nd New York regiment, was tried for desertion, 
Tound guilty, and sentenced to be shot to death * the General approves the sentence and 
orders it to be executed at the head of the regiment to-morrow afternoon at six o'clock. 
Edward Tjier of the same regiment tried by the same court for desertion, found guilty 
and sentenced to run the guantelope through Cortlandt's. Spencer's and Cilley's regi- 
ments, with a centinel at his breast to regulate his pace ; the General approves the sen- 
tence and orders it executed to-morrow afternoon at live o'olock. John Stevens of the 
same regiment, tried for desertion, found guilty and sentenced to receive one hundred 
lashes : tiie General approves the sentence and orders it executed at the hea;l of the reg- 
iment, to-morrow afternoon at six o'clock. * * * 

Order Book, Lieu. -Col. George C. Barber, 

Adjutant Gen'I of the Western Army. 

'-^8 Near the west line of Pocono Township, also called Rum bridge. 

2^ There were three paths leading eastward from Wyoming ; the southern, called the 
"warriors' path," by way of Fort Allen and along the Lehigh to the Delaware Water 
Gap at Easton ; the northern, by way of the Lackawana at Capouse Meadows, through 
Cobb's Gap and the Lackawaxen, to the Delaware and Hudson ; the middle one, along 
which this military road was constructed, led through the Wind Gap to Easton. The 



28 hardenbergh's journal. 

Thursday, 20tli. — Eainy weather with some thunder ; we 
remained in camp. 

Friday, 21st. — Foggy, rainy weather with thunder and 
lightning; remained in camp. This day Ensign Swart- 
wout'" arrived in camp from the State of New Yorlc, brought 
news that the Indians were lurking about Rochester and 
Wawasinlv ; and the inhabitants chiefly moved off their fam- 
ilies. ' 

Saturday, 22nd. — The weather continued rainy. Re- 
mained in camp. At sunset the weather cleared off. 

Sunday, 23d. — The morning fair and clear. Received or- 
ders to march. At 8 o'clock the Greneral beat ; struck tents, 
proceeded on our march till over a creek in the Great 



massacre of Wyomins in IT'S had filled the forests along this central trail with hun- 
dreds of helpless fugitives ; some estimate the number about two thousand, mostly 
women and children ; many sunk under the tomahawk, others died of excitement, fa- 
tigue, hunger and exposure; many were lost and perished in the woods, while hundreds 
were never seen or heard of after their precipitate flight. At this time small parties of 
Indians still hovered around Wyoming. They watched the passes, and occasionally ex- 
hibited extraordinary instances of courage and audacity. Major Powell, with two hun- 
dred men of a regiment that had suffered severely at the battle of Germantown, having 
been ordered to Wyoming, arrived at Bear Creek about ten miles from that point, on the 
19th of April. Deeming themselves out of danger from a surprise by the Indians, 
officers iind men arrayed themselves in their best apparel, burnished their arms and put 
everything in shape for a respectable appearance on entering the Valley. According to 
the fashion of the day the officers donned their ruffles, powdered their hair, and with 
enlivening strains of music, advanced toward their destination. The advance guard re- 
ported having seen some deer, and Captain Davis, Lieutenant Jones and others, started 
in pursuit ; near the summit of the second mountain by the Laurel Run, and about 
four miles from the fort, a fire was opened upon them by the Indians in ambush. Davis, 
Jones, Corporal Butler and three soldiers were killed and scalped. Chaplain Rogers 
says : " Scalped, tomahawked and speared by the savages, fifteen or twenty in number ; 
" two boards are fixed at the spot where Davis and Jones fell, with their names on each. 
"Jones's being besmeared with his own blood. In passing this melancholy vale, an 
" unusual gloom appeared on the countenances of both officers and men without distinc- 
" tion, and from the eyes of many, as by a sudden impulse, drops the sympathizing tear. 
" Colonel Proctor, out of respect to the deceased, ordered the music to play the tune of 
" Roslin Castle, the soft and moving notes of which, together with what so forcibly 
" struck the eye, tended greatly to fill our breasts with pity, and to renew our grief for 
" our worthy departed friends and brethren." The bodies of the two officers were ex- 
humed a few weeks after this and re-interred at Wilkesbarre, with military and ma- 
sonic honors by the officers of Sullivan's army. 

30 Barnardus Swartwout, an Ensign in first company of Col. Van Cortlandt's regiment. 



hakdexbergh's journal. 29 

Swamp^' called Tackhanack, the road very bad, the baggage 
could not come up ; went back and mended the road and 
encamped where the baggage was. In the evening, Ser- 
geant Jonas Brown'^'^ with five men, was sent off to Wej- 
oming with letters from General Sullivan to General Hand.^^ 
Monday, 2I:tli. — About 9 o'clock in the inorning struck 
camp, marched across the Tackhanack^'* and encamped on a 
hight, about half a mile from the creek, but continued mak- 
ing the road which was very bad about that place. 

31 " Monda}', June 21, 1779. — This daj' we marched through the Great Swamp, and Bear 
Swamp. The Great Swamp, which is eleven or twelve miles through, contains what is 
called on our maps " shades of death," by reason of its darkness ; both swamps con- 
tain trees of amazing height, viz., hemlock, birch, pine, sugar maple, ash, locust, etc. 
The roads in some places are tolerable, but in other places exceeding bad, by reason of 
which, and a long though necessary march, three of our wagons and the carriages of 
two field pieces were broken down. This day we proceeded twenty miles and encamped 
late in the evening at a spot which the commander named Camp Fatigue. The troops 
were tired and hungry. The road through the Swamps is entirely new, being fitted for 
the passage of our wagons by Colonels Cortlandt and Spencer at the instance of ihe 
commander-in-chief ; the way to- Wyoming, being before only a blind, narrow path. 
The new road does its projectors great credit, and must in a futur^day be of essential 
service to the inhabitants of Wyoming and Easton, In the Great Swamp is Locust Hill, 
where we discovered evident marks of a destroyed Indian village. Tobyhanna and 
Middle creeks empty into the Tunkhanunk ; the Tunkhanunk empties into the head 
branch of the Lehigh, which at Easton, empties into the Delaware. The Moosick 
mountain, through a gap of which we passed in the Great Swamp, is the dividing ridge 
which separates the Delaware from the Susquehanna. ""—[Bev. William Sogers' Journal. 

■iS Sergeant Jonas Brown, of Captain Charles Graham's Co., Second New York, re- 
turned as dead by Lieut. Conolly, in 1785, drew lot twenty-three, of the military tract in 
Homer, containing six hundred acres. 

33 Brigadier General Edward Hand, the youngest brigadier of the expedition. 
Born in Ireland the last day of 1744, was an ensign in the British array, served two years 
witli his regiment in America, then resigned and settled in Pennsylvania. At the begin- 
ning of the Revolution he entered the continental service as Lieutenant-Colonel, was 
made Colonel of a rifle corps in 1776, was in the battles of Long Island and Trenton, and 
in the summer of 1777 was in command at Pittsburg. Washington placed great confi- 
dence in his judgment and consulted him freely as to the feasibility of this campaign. 
In 1780 he succeeded Scammel as Adjutant General of the army and held the position 
until the close of the war. He was a lover of fine horses and an excellent horseman. 
He died in Lancaster, Pa., Sept. 3, 1803. 

34 Tunkhanna, from Tankhanne, i. e., the stnall stream, is a tributary of the Toby- 
hanna, which it enters at the west corner of Tunkhanna township. The smallest of two 
confluents or sources of a river is always called TankJianne by the Delavi^ares. 



80 HARDENBERGII'S JOURNAL. 

Tuesday, 25tli. — Left our camp standing, and continued 
making the road ; built a bridge and causeway at Tobehanna^' 
of one hundred and fifteen paces in length. The creek is 
considerable large and abounds with trout. ^^ Some good 
land along the creek ; the road very difficult to make. 

Wednesday, 26th. — Laid still in camp on purpose to re- 
fresh the men, and washing. Sergeant Brown returned from 
Weyoming. 

Thursday, 27th. — Went out to work. 

Friday, 28th. — Finished the l)ridge across the Tobehannah 
and returned to camp. 

Saturday, 29tli. — John Curry and Michael Sellers were 
tried at the drum-head, for stealing rum from the commis- 
sary,^' found guilty, and sentenced to receive, Curry sevent}'- 
five lashes, and Sellers fifty, which was directly put in exe- 
cution. Our camp remained; we continued work on the 
road. After we returned from fatigue. Gen, Sullivan and 
Col. Hoopes'^* arrived in our camp. 

Sunday, 30th. — In the morning Gen. Sullivan and Col. 
Hoopes returned to Easton. At 7 o'clock in the morning- 
struck tents, the regiment marched to Locust Hill and en- 

35 ToBYHANNA, Corrupted from Topi-hanne, signifj^ing alder stream, i. e., a stream 
whose bai.ks are fringed with alders ; is a tributary of the Lehigh, which it enters from 
the south-east at Stoddartsville. 

36 The camp of the two regiments on White Oak Run, or Rum Bridge as called in 
some journals, was the same place where the main army encamped June, 19th, and 
" called Chowder Camp from the commander-in-chief dining this day on chowder made 
of trout." 

37 " One quart of whiskey to be issued this evening to each oflicer, and a half pint to 
each non-commissioned officer and soldier on the detachment command by General 
Poor. * * * The officers are to see respectively that water be immediately mixed 
U'ith the soldier'' s whiskey.'^ General orders, Aug. 15, at Tioga. 

38 Major Adam Hoops, third A. D. C. to General Sullivan. He was in the army 
throughout the Revolution, and at one period belonged to the staff of Washington. He 
was connected with the earliest survey.s of Western Xew York. In 1804, he in company 
with Ebenezer F. Norton, purchased most of the township of Olean and laid out the 
village of Hamilton, the original name of present village of Olean. He was a bachelor 
and died in Westchester, Pa. 



hardenbergh's journal. 31 

camped there f^ myself was ordered to remain with the Com- 
missary stores which could not move with the baggage for 
want of teams. 

Monday, 81st. — The Coll. sent the wagons back to fetch 
the stores. We loaded them on the wagons and proceeded 
to Camp and arrived there at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. 
The troops worked on the road. 

Tuesday, June 1st. — Worked on the road. The Camp re- 
mained on Locust Hill. 

Wednesday, June 2d. — Lt. Weissenfels*' of our regiment 
was sent to Weyoming as an escort to guard a number of 
pack horses. The troops continued working the road. I 
was ordered on court martial, of which Captain Graham was 
President. 

Thursday, June 3d. — The troops did not work for want of 
provision. 

Friday, June 4th. — The camp remained oil Locust Hill. 
Captain Graham, mj^self, and two other officers were ordered 
to inspect pork which was chiefly Condemned on account of 
its being Spoiled.*' On the 3d of June, John Ten Eyck, 

3v Dr. Jabez Campfield of Col. Spencer's Regiment, .ioined his regiment ■« hile they 
were in camp at Tunkhanna on the 26th of May, where he says they continued until the 
30th, "when we marched to Locust Hill. All this way the land very indifferent 
and rough, the timber mos-tly pitch pine and hemlock, some white jjine, also birch, 
mirtle, and some beach, elm and spruce. This hill is covered with small locust trees. 
While the detachment remained at Locust Hill, the First New Hampshire Regiment 
joined lis, but at the same time a detachment under Colonel Smith were sent to Wyo- 
ming so that we gained very little by the Hampshire men coming up." 

William Barton's Journal under date of June nth says : * * * "Locust Hill so 
called, on account of being entirely timbered with it for twenty-three miles. We all 
proceeded on our journey again until we fell in with a detachment composed of sev- 
eral regiments which had been cutting a road through from Laniard's to Wyoming, as 
there never was any before only an old Indian path.'' 

■*" Lieutenant Charles F. W^eisenfels of 3d company, 2nd regiment, served during the 
war. 

■*• On the 21st of July, General Sullivan writes to Congress from Easton, after com- 
plaining of the delays of the quarter-master and commissary departments in forwarding 
supplies, he speaks as follows in regard to the quality : * * * " My duty to the public, 
and regard to my own reputation, compel me to state the reasons why this army has 



32 haedekbergh's journal. 

soldier in Captain French's company of liglit infantry was 
drowned in the Lehi by accident. 

Saturday, 5th. — The regiment was ordered on fatigue with 
three days provisions, that night lay out in the woods. 

Sunday 6th. — I was relieved by Lt. Fairlie^"^ and went to 
Camp, this day we worked through the great Swamp. 

Monday, 7th June. — At about 8 in the morning decamped 
from Locust Hill, crossed the Lehi and encamped on the side 
of a Swamp called the Shades of Death,^^ about six miles 
from Locust Hill. 

Tuesday^ 8th June. — About 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 
struck our tents, marched through the Shades of Death, .and 
encamped at night about one mile from the Shades. 

Wednesday, 9th. — The Camp remained. 

Thursday 10th. — The Camp remained. The troops worked 
on the road. 

Friday, 11th. — The regiment decamped and marched with- 
in seven miles from Weyoming. Capt. Wright and I re- 
mained behind to guard the Commissary Stores. 

Saturday, 12th. — The guard and Commissarj'^ Stores came 
up to Camp. 

Sunday, 13th. — Laid still. 

been so long delayed here, without advancing into the enemy'8countr3'. * * * The 
inspector is now on the ground, by order of the Board of War, inspecting the provis- 
ions ; and his regard to the truth must oblige him on his return to report that, of the 
salted meat on hand, there is not a single pound fit to be eaten, even at this day, though 
every measure has been taken to preserve it that possibly could be devised." * * * 
About one hundred and fifty cattle sent to Sunbury were left there, being too poor to 
walk, and many of them unable to stand." 

4- Lieut. James Fairlie, of Capt. Fowler's company, 2nd regiment, after the consol- 
idation of the five New York regiments in 1780. He drew military lots Nos. seventy- 
three Cato, and sixty-five Brutus. 

•43 Shades op Death, supposed by many to have derived the name from the sufferings 
of those who escaped from the massacre of Wyoming, but this is evidently an error, as 
the name was attached to the locality and appeared on the maps, long previous 

to irrs. 



hakdexbergh's journal. 33 

Monda}^, 1-itli. — At six o'clock tlie General beat, struck 
tents and marched to Wejoming'" and arrived there at about 
12, and pitched Camp. 

June loth and IGtli. — Laid still. 

Thursday, 17th. — Moved the camp about four miles up 
the Eiver, to a placed called Jacob's Plains.'*^ 

18th and 19th.— Laid still. 

Sunday, June 20th. — I was ordered to go down the River 
Sisquehannah with a party in boats'"* under the command of 

■w Wyoming. 

" On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming! 
Delightful Wyoming ! " — Campbell. 

The Delaware name given to a valley on the Susquehanna river, of t&ree to four miles 
in width, by about' sixteen in length, extending from the mountain range above the 
Lackawana, where the river wends its way through a gorge a thousand feet deep, south- 
westerly to where the river again finds its way through a range equally lofty and precip- 
itous. This was the Schahentoa or Schahen-dowane of the Iroquois, signifying 
great plains, as does also the Delaware name of Wyoming. From its earliest known 
history, this vallej' has been a favorite place of Indian residence, and was the probable 
seat of an Iroquois tribe, called Schahentoak-ronons by Brebeuf in 1635, whom he de- 
scribes as allies of the Hurons, and speaking their language. In 1614, three-Dutchmen 
in the employ of the Directors of New Netherland, accompanied a party of Mahican In- 
dians from near Fort Orange, in a war expedition against the Carantouannais, a pow- 
erful Iroquois tribe, whose main village containing more than eight hundred warriors, 
was located on the so-called "Spanish Hill" near Waverly, N. Y. These Dutchmen 
were captured by the Carantouannais, and were the first white men these Indians had 
ever seen ; believing them to be French, who were allies of their fnends the Hurons, 
they treated them kindly, and conducted them down the Susquehanna to this point, and 
thence by way of the Lehigh river, to the Delaware, where they were ransomed by Capt. 
Hendricksen, "giving for them kittles, beads and merchandise." In the map made by 
the Captain from information furnished by these Dutchmen, he indicated four towns 
on the west side of the river, at this point, and designated the tribe as Minquas, this 
being the general name applied hy the Dutch to all the Iroquois tribes south of the Five 
Nations, and west of New Netherland, several of which are known to have been in exist- 
ence at that early date, but which appear to have been entirely overlooked by the schol- 
ars of the country. 

•*5 Jacob's Plains. — A plateau on the east side of the river, above present Wilkes- 
barre in the town of Plains. Abraham's Plains are on the west side of the river. ' 'June 
17. — Decamped at 10 o'clock. The three regiments marched up to Jacob's Plains, en- 
camped near the bank of the river on the east shore, about four miles above the garri- 
son." — Nathaniel WebVs Journal. 

*^ "July 20. — Three hundred boats arrived with provisions from Sunbury. 

July 21.— Eight Hundred head of cattle, five hundred horses, five hundred wagons ar- 
rived. 

July 24 — Two hundred boats arrived, with stores, at which time thirty cannon were 
fired from the ■psx^^— Nathaniel Webb's Journal. 



34 hakdenbergh's journal. 

Captain Graliam. Left Weyoming about 7 o'clock in the 
morning and arrived with the boats at Fort Jenkins-" at sun- 
set and stayed that night. 

Monday, 21st. — Left Fort Jenkins in the morning, pro- 
ceeded down the Eiver and arrived at Northumberland 
town,^' dined there, and proceeded to Sunbury and arrived 
there at 7 o'clock at night. 

Tuesday, 22nd. — Laid still at Sunbury and loaded the 
boats with flour and beef. 

Wednesday, 23d. — At 9 o'clock in the morning left Sun- 
bury, proceeded up the Eiver about eight miles. 

Thursday, 24th. — Proceeded up the Eiver till night and 
lodged on board the boat. In the night lost my hat. 

Friday, 25th. — Proceeded up the Eiver as far as Fort 
Jenkins and lodged therel'*' 

Saturday, 26th. — Left Fort Jenkins and arrived at tlie 
falls.'" Got half the boats up the falls, which were drawn 
up by ropes. 

47 Fort Jenkins,— near Centreville. Columbia County, half wpy between Wyoming 
and Sunbury, built in li77. There was another Fort Jenkins on the west side of the 
river a mile above Fort Wintermoot, built in 1776 under the supervision of the Jenkins 
and Harding families. This was captured and destroyed in 1778 in the Wyoming mas- 
sacre. 

■JS Northumberland,— at the junction of the west, and main branches of the Susque- 
hanna, above Sunbury, sixty-five miles from Wilkesbarre. 

■»« During the absence of Lieut. Hardenberg down the river a party visited the battle- 
ground. " The place where the battle was fought may with propriety be called ' a place 
of skulls,' as the bodies of the slain were not buried, their bones were scattered in every 
direction all around ; a great number of which for a few days past having been picked 
up, were decently interred by our people. We passed a grave where seventy-five skele- 
tons were buried ; also a spot where fourteen wretched creatures, who, having surren- 
dered upon being promised mercy, were nevertheless made immediately to sit down in 
a ring, and after the savages had worked themselves up to the extreme of fury in their 
usual manner, by dancing, singing, halloaing, i&c, they proceeded deliberately to toma- 
hawk the poor fellows one after another. Fifteen surrendered and composed the ring ; 
upon the Indians beginning their work of cruelty, one of them providentially escaped, 
who reported the matter to Col. Butler, who upon his return to Wyoming, went to the 
spot and found the bones of the fourteen lying as human bodies in an exact circle." — 
Rev. William Rogers'' Journal. 

6» Nescopec Falls— at present Nescopec in County of Luzerne. 



HARDENBERGH S JOURNAL. 35 

Sunda}', 27tb. — Got up the rest of tlie boats, and proceed- 
ed up the Hiver and halted along shore over night. Coll. 
Ogden's regiment from Jersey was sent down as a guard to 
us from Weyoming. 

Monday, 28th. — At Eevelle beat proceeded up the River 
to the upper falls. Got all the boats up, (one of which over- 
set in going up) and arrived at Shawny flats about -i miles 
from Weyoming. 

Tuesday, 29th. — Left Shawny flats in the morning and ar- 
rived at Weyoming" about 7 o'clock in the morning, un- 
loaded the boats and went up to camp in the afternoon to 
Jacob's Plains. 

Wednesday, 30th June. — The regiment was mustered in 
camp at Jacob's Plains. While I was out on my voyage 
down the river, Gen. Sullivan arrived at Weyoming with 
troops to be employed on the expedition."^ 

61 " Wtoming is situated on the east side of the east branch of the Susquehanna, the 
town consisting of about seventy houses, chiefly log buildings ; besides these buildings 
there are sundry larger ones which were erected by tne army for the purpose of receiv- 
ing stores, ifcc, a large bake and smoke houses. There is likewise a small fort erected 
in the town, with a strong abbata around it, and a small redoubt to shelter the inhabi- 
tants in case of an alarm. This fort is garrisoned by 100 men, draughted from the west- 
ern army, and put under the command of Col. Zebulon Butler. I cannot omit taking 
notice of the poor inhabitants of the town ; two thirds of them are widows and orphans, 
who, by the vile hands of the savages, have not ouly deprived them of tender husbands, 
some indulgent parents, and others of affectionate friends and acquaintances, besides 
robbed and plundered of all their furniture and clothing. In short, they are left totally 
dependent on the public, and are become absolute objects of charity.'^— Htibl of s Jour- 
nal. 

5i The army when concentrated at Wyoming was organized as follows : 

New Jersey Brigade, Brig. Gen'l William Maxwell com'd. 

1st N. J., Col. Matthias Ogden. 

2d, " " Israel Shreve. 

3d, " " Elias Dayton. 

5th, '■ " Oliver Spencer's Independent Regiment, also fragments of Forsmau"s 
and Sheldon's regiments merged into Spencer's. 

New Hampshire Brigade— Brig. Gen'l Enoch Poor, com'd. 

1st N. H., Col. Joseph Cilley. 

2d ■' Lieut. Col. George Raid. 

3d " " " Henry Dearborn. 

2dN. Y., Col. Philip Van Cortlandt. 



36 hardenbergh's journal. 

Thursday, Jul}' 1.— Laid still. 

Friday, July 2d; Saturday, July 3d. — Remaiued at Ja- 
cob's Plains. 

Sunday, July ye itli. — Decamped from Jacob's Plains 
crossed the river Sisquehannah and encamped on the west 
side the River, near forty fort''* on a fine plain called Abra- 
ham's Plains. 

Monday, 5th Jul}". — AVent out on a scouting party in or- 
der to hunt. Went up the River as far as Laghawanny 
Creek and returned at sunset. Met with no success. 

During our stay at Weyoming we had nothing to do but 
to keep guard, and disciplining our troops ; only a few that 
were employed in boating to carry provisions" up the River 
from Sunbury to AVej^oming. 

(From July 5th to July 31st no entry was made in the 
Journal). 

Saturday, the 31st of July. — About 3 o'clock in the after- 
noon we left AVeyoming on our expedition. Our baggage 
being carried on pack horses, the provisions and artillery in 
boats, we marched as far as Lackawannick,''^ ten miles from 
AVeyoming, and encamped."' 



Brigade of Light Troops, C4en'I Edward Hand, com'd. 
1 Ith Pa., Lieut. Col. Adam Hubley. 
German Regiment, Maj. Daniel Burkhardt. 
Independent Wyoming Company, Capt. Simon Spalding. 
Wyoming Militia, Capt. John Franklin. 
Schott's Rifle Corps, under Capt. Selin. 

S3 Forty Fort— On the right bank of the Susquehanna between Pittston and Wilkes- 
barre, built in 1770 by the company of emigrants from Connecticut, forty in number. 

64 Gen. Hand, and other officers were engaged for six weeks in collecting supplies, 
which General Sullivan expected would be in Wyoming on his arrival. Four hundred 
and fifty boatmen were enlisted and large parties of soldiers were detailed for this ser- 
vice. 

55 Lackawanna River, flowing into the Susquehanna from the north-east, called bj' 
the Delawares, Lechau-Uanneck, signifying the forks of a river or stream, and by the Iro- 
quois Hazirok ; an Indian town called Adjouquay existed at an early date on the east 
side, on present site of Pittston. 

56 Faluno Springs.— a short distance above Campbell's ledge, a beautiful cascade 
comes rushing down from the mountain called Falling Springs. It proceeds from sev- 



hardenbergh's journal. 37 

Sunday, Aug. first. — At 1 o'clock in the afternoon struck 
our tents and marclied 7 miles to a place called Quialuti- 
mack." The road was very difficult, the baggage did not 
arrive till towards day. 

Monday, August ye 2d. — Laid still at Quialutimack. 

Tuesday, Aug. 3d. — At 7 o'clock in the morning siruck 
our camp, loaded our baggage, proceeded on our march and 
encamped at night in the wood. 

Wednesday, Aug. 4th. — At 7 o'clock in the morning the 
General beat, struck our tents, proceeded on our march and 
encamped at night at Venderlips"" Plantation. This day's 
march was very fatiguing. Our regiment was on the Rear 
Guard, the road very mountainous and difficult. We had 
the care of all the pack hoi'ses and cattle, which was very 
troublesome. 

Thursday, Aug. 5th. — About 10 o'clock decamped, pro- 
ceeded on our march and arrived at Wyalusing"^ and en- 
oanijied there. 

eral never-failing springs on the summit. . Hubley says, " to attempt a description of it 
would be almost presumption. Let this short account thereof suffice. The first or 
upper fall thereof is nearly ninety feet perpendicular, pouring from a solid rock, ush- 
ering forth a most beautiful echo, and is received by a cleft of rocks, considerably 
more projected than the former, from whence it rolls gradually and falls into the Sus- 
quehanna." 

■''' QcTAiLUTiMACK, seven miles from Lackawanna, signifying " we came iinmvareit upon 
them.'''' A place between the steep mountain and the river, said to have been the place 
of an Indian battle. The camp was on a "spot of ground situated on the river open 
and clear, containing about twelve hundred acres, soil very rich, timber fine, grass in 
abundance, and contains several springs."— /T^/Wfy's Journal. 

58 Van dee Lippe's.— Now Black Walnut in the town of Meshoppen, Wyoming Coun- 
ty. So called from atory of that name, who was the first settler, above the Lackawan- 
na, who previous to this time had abandoned the valley, and afterward died in Canada. 
During this day's march the army passed over Indian Hill, where Col. Hartley had 
a battle with the Indians the previous year. 

5» Wtalusing. At present Wyalusiug in Bradford County.— " Passing up the river 
we came to a place called by the Indians Gohontoto. Here they tell us was in early 
times an Indian town, traces of which are still noticeable, e. g., corn pits, &c., inhabited 
by a distinct nation (neither Aquinoschioni, i. e., Iroquois, nor Delawares) who spoke a 
peculiar language and were called Tehotitachsae ; against these the Five Nations 
warred, and rooted them out. The Cayugas for a.time held a number of them, but the 
nation and their language are now exterminated and extinct. This war, said the Indian, 



38 ■ hardexbergh's journal. 

Friday, Aug. 6tli. — Laid still at Wyalusing for refresh- 
ment. 

Saturday, Aug. 7th. — Laid still on account of rain}^ weath- 
er. 

Sunda}^, August 8th.*" — At six o'clock in tlie morning 
struck camp, moved from Wyalusing and encamped at even- 
ing at a place called Standing Stone." 

Monday, Aug. 9th. — At six o'clock in the morning struck 
our tents, proceeded on our march and arrived at Sheshehung 
flats"^ and encamped there. 

Tuesday, Aug. 10th. — Laid still at the Flats. 

Wednesday, Aug. 11th. — At 6 o'clock in the morning 
struck tent, marched at 7 o'clock for Tyuga.''^ Our regiment 

fell in the time when the Indians fought in battle with bmvs and arrows before they 
had guns and \i?ies,."—Caminer?ioff& Zewherger''s Journal, 1750. This was also the seat 
of the Moravian mission of Friedenshtuten, established in 1765, abandoned in 1773 
This was about a mile below Wyalusing Creek, on the farms now occupied by G. H. 
Wells and J. B. Stafford. Rogers devotes several pages to a description of this town. 

•50 Newtychanning.— This day Col. Proctor destroyed the first Indian town, named 
Newtychanning, containing about twenty houses, located on the west side of the Sus- 
quehanna, on the north side of Sugar Creek near North Tow'anda. Sullivan says it con- 
tained twenty-two houses ; Canfield, that it was built the preceding year and contained 
from fifteen to twenty houses. This was near the site of Oscalui, of a previous date, 
and the same site called Ogeliage, on Captain Hendricksen's map of 1616, and was then 
one of the towns of the Carantouannais, an Iroquois tribe destroyed or driven out by 
the Five Nations previous to 1650. 

SI Standing Stone. — A large and long rock, on the west side of the river, said to have 
been detached from its bed on the mountain and taking a downward course, displacing 
all obstacles, took a final leap from the top of the precipice, and landed in a vertical po- 
sition in the water near the shore, and remains a standing stone. The main army en, 
camped directly opposite this, on Standing Stone flats; Hand's brigade on Wysox creek 
three miles above. 

•i'-' Sheshequin Flats. — On site of present Sheshequin in Bradford County, on the op- 
posite side of the river on site of present Ulster, was the Indian village of Sheshequin, 
six miles below Tioga. Cash's creek divided the town into two parts, the north side be- 
^ng heathen, those on the south Moravian Christians. About 1772 the latter removed 
six miles north and founded a new town, afterward known as Queen Esther's Town. 
Sheshequin was destroyed by Col. Hartley in 1778. 

•J'* Tioga, the name given by the Iroquois to the wedge of land lying betvi'een the Che- 
mung river and north branch of the Susquehanna ; from Teycu>geii, an interval, or any- 
thing between two other things [Bruyas, Agniers Racines]. Teiohogen, the forks of a 
river (Gallatin's vocabulary 387). This has from time immemorial been one of the most 
important strategical points of the country of the Five Nations. Zeisberger passed 



hardenbergh's journal. 39 

and the 2d New Jersey regiment was ordered to cross the 
Eiver at our encampment and proceed up the River on the 
opposite side, to take possession of the ground at Tyuga to 
cover the fording place for the army and horses to cross the 
Eiver, arrived at Tyuga about 11 o'clock in the morn- 
ing." At night Gen. Sullivan sent off a small scout"^ to dis- 
cover Shemung'"' (of one Captain and seven men,) which la}' 
about twelve miles \\\) the Tiyuga branch. 

Aug. 12. — The scout returned with news that the enemy 
seemed to be in great confusion and seemed to be moving 

through here in 1750 and says that "at Tioga or the gate, Six Nations Indians were sta- 
tioned for the purpose of ascertaining the character of all persons who crossed over into 
their country, and that whoever entered their territory by any other way than through 
the gate,, or by way of the Mohawk, was suspected by them of e\il purj^ose and treated as 
a spy or enemy." An Indian town of Tioga near the point, destroyed by Col. Hartley in 
1778. 

The earliest known account of the place is found in Champlain, who sent out one of 
his interpreters, named Stephen Brule, in 1615, to arrange with the Carantouannais for a 
force of five hundred warriors, to co-operate with him in an attack on the Onondaga 
stronghold, then located on the town of Fenner, Madison Co.. N. Y. Brule with a small 
party of Hurons passed through the country of the Five Nations, to the great town of Car- 
antouan, containing more than eight hundred warriors, then located on the so-called Span, 
ish Hill near Waverly. Brule returned to Carantouan after the expedition, and the next 
year, 161(5, went down the Susquehanna to the sea "where he found niany nations that 
are powerful and warlike." 

The three Dutchmen mentioned in note 44 passed down the Susquehanna branch and 
were probably the flrst white men who ever saw that river ; Brule, the tirst that ever 
saw the Chemung. 

•'■4 Break-Neck Hill.— The army passed this day Break-Neck Hill, nearly opposite 
North Towanda. " This mountain derives its name from the great height of the diffi- 
cult and narrow passage not more than a foot wide, and remarkable precipice which is 
jmmediately perpendicular, and not less than one hundred and eighty feet deep. One 
mis-step must inevitablj' carry j'ou from top to bottom without the least hope or chance 
of recoxery .^"—Hubley's Journal. 

'• This day marched on the side of a mountain about three hundred feet from the bot- 
tom in a narrow path, where if we were to step one foot to our left we would be gone, 
and on our right the mountain was about four hundred feet high. N. B.— Three cows 
fell down and broke every bone in their bodies."— .S/^^fe's Journal. 

''= Capt. Cummings of the 3d N. J., Lieut. Jenkins, Capt. Franklin and five others. 

et5 Chemung —An Indian town of fifty or sixty houses, occupied in 1779. located on 
the left bank of the Chemung river, three miles above the present village of Chemung, in 
Chemung County, destroyed by Gen. Sullivan Aug. 13th. 1779. 

Old Chemung.— an Indian town partially abandoned in 1779, located on the left bank 
of the Chemung river, half a mile above the present village of Chemung, in Chemung 
County. A few houses burned Aug. 13th, 1779. 



40 hardenbergh's journal. 

off. The Gen'l left a guard at Tiyuga sufficient to guard tlie 
camp and marched with the rest of the army under cover of 
the night for Shemung, marched all night, the weather very 
dark, and nothing but an Indian path through the wood 
made it difficult.-' 

Friday, Aug. 13th. — About six o'clock in the morning we 
arrived at Shemung and found the enemy had left the town. 
On our approach we burnt the town, destroyed the corn, &c., 
and returned to Tiyuga. A small party of the Indians who 
had concealed themselves in the wood, fired on a small par- 
ty of Gen'll Hand's Brigade, killed six men and wounded 
two without loss on their side.*^** A party of Gen'l Poor's 
Brigade was destroying corn, were fired upon by the enemy, 
killed one and wounded one. 

Saturday, Aug. 14th. — Laid at Tiyuga waiting for the ariv- 
al of Gen'l Clinton's Brigade, who came down the Susque- 
hannah from the Mohawk Eiver. A large detachment from 
the army was ordered up to join him."" The remainder of 



6' This nisjht's march was very tedious. The path followed the north bank of the Che- 
mung, passing the first narrows, near present W^averly, and the second along the steep 
hill-sides and precipices west of present Chemung. At these points there was scarcely 
room for two to walk abreast, and a single mis-step would insure a landing on the rocks 
a hundred feet below. It was daylight when the troops reached th^ second narrows, but 
a dense fog prevailed, under the cover of which they advanced, and found the town aban- 
doned. 

68 Chemung Ambuscade. — On the failure to surprise the Indians in their village. Gen- 
eral Hand pursued them up the river. About a mile above New Chemung, the trail 
passed obliquely over a hill known locally as the Hog Back, near the present residence 
of Doctor Everett, about two and a "half miles below the monument on Sullivan Hill. 
Col. Hubley's regiment was in front, with Capt. Bush's compan3' of forty men on the 
right acting as flankers, with the two Independent Companies in the rear. The head of 
the column appears to have been somewhat in advance of the flankers and when near 
the summit of the hill, received a fire from tlie enemy in ambush, at short range. Six 
were killed and nine wounded, among the latter Capt. Franklin, Capt. Carbury and Ad- 
jutant Huston, all of Col. Hubley's regiment. The enemy at once retreated to the thick- 
et north of the hill. 

69 The following extract from the Journal of Major Norris, describes the march of this 
detachment up the north side of the Susquehanna from Tioga to ITnion in the town of 
Union, Broome County, where they met General Clinton's brigi'df . For the march of 
Clinton down the Susquehanna see Beatty's Journal : 



I 



hardenbergh's journal. 41 

the army were employed in building a garrison at Tiyn- 
ga.'" On the 22nd day of Ang't we were joined by Gen'l 
Clinton's Brigade. 

Monday, Aug't 23d. — Laid still. Capt. Kimljle of Col. 
Cilley's Regiment, Gen'l Poor s Brigade, was kdled in his 
tent Ijy accident with a gun being snapped by a soldier. 

"Aug. 15th. — Nine Hundred chosen men under the Command of Brig. Gen'l Poor are 
ordered to march Tomorrow morning up the Susquehanna, to meet Gen'l Clinton, who 
is on his march to join Sullivan's Army with his Brigade and is in some Danger of being 
Atackted bj' the Enemy before he can form a Junction with our Main Army ; 
This afternoon a Small Party of Indian's fired on eome of our Men who were witliout 
the Guards after some Horse's, and Cattle, Killd and Sculped one man and Wounded 
another, a Partj' was sent out in pursuit of them but Could not come up with them — 

16th General Poor Vlarch'd with his Detachment at 10 o'clock A. M. proceeded in 
two CoUam's up the Suscuhannah River Over very rough Ground we Incampt Near the 
.Ruins of an old town Call'd Macktowauuck the Land near the River is very Good — 

17th We marchd Early this Morning Proceed li Miles to Owagea an Indian Town 
■which was Deserted last Spring, after Planting, About the town is many Fruit Trees 
and many Plants, and Herbs, that are Common in our part of the Country ; Hear is a 
Learge body of clear Intivale Covered with Grass, Our March to day Very Survear and 
Fatigueing Esspecelly for the Left Collm (to which I belong) as we had to pass Several 
Steap Hills, and Morasses— 

18th We March'd Early this Morning proceeded 14 miies to Choconant the Remains 
of a Learge Indian Town which has been likewise Abandoned this Summer, here we 
found Plenty of Cucombar's, Squashes, Turnips &c. We found About twenty Houses, 
Which we burnt our Days March has been More Survear tlian Yesterday, as we had bad 
Hills and Swamps, one swamp of about two miles so Covered with Large Pines, Stand- 
ing and lying whicli appeared as tho' Several Ilaricanes had been busy among since 
which !', Tremendius Gj'oath of Bushes About twenty feet high has sprung up so very 
thick as to Render the passing through them impractible by any troops but such as 
Nothing but Death can stop — at sunset we were Very agreeably alarm'd by the Report 
of a Cannon up the River Which was supposed to be GeneraJ Clintons Evening Gun — 

19th Our Troops were put in Motion very early this Morning after Marching about 
one Mile Gen'l Poor Received an Exspress from General Clinton Informing him that the 
Latter exspected to be hear by 10 o'clock A. M. this day in Consiquence of which we 
Return'd to our Old Incampment where General Clinton, Joined us at 10 o'Clock with 
two Thousand Men— Including Officers, Boatsman &.c. he has two Hundred and Eight 
Beautoes with Provisions Ammunition &c after Mutual Congratulations and Comple- 
ments the whole Proceeded down the River to Owagea and Incanqit this Evening, the 
town of Owegea was made a burnfire of to Grace our Mealing * * * * * " 

"f Fort Sullivan— near the centre of the present village of Athens, where the two 
rivers approach near eacli other. It was about one hundred yards square, with a strong 
block house at each angle, two opposite ones resting on the banks of the rivers, and the 
two others about midway between. Tlie curtains were made by setting logs end\yise in 
the ground, the whole being surrounded by a ditch, making a work of ample strength. 
Col. Shreve was left in command with a garrison of two hundred and fifty men beside 
the invalids, with two pieces of artillery. 



4-2 hardenbergh's journal. 

Tuesday, 24th Aug't. — The disposition was made and ev- 
erything got in readiness for marching. The army encamped 
that evening agreeable to the order of march,'' myself being 
drafted on the right flank, which was commanded by Col. 
Dubois. 

Wednesdaj^, 25th. — Laid still not being able to get ready 
to march on account of our })ack horses. 

Thursda}^, 26th.— Struck tents at 1 o'clock and marched 
about 3 miles up the Tiyuga Branch and encamped. 

Friday, Aug't 27. — At 8 o'clock in the morning the Gen'l 
beat, struck tents at 9 o'clock marched off and encamped 
that night about 3 miles below Sheraung by a large corn- 
field.'-^ 

Saturday, Aug't 28th.— At 3 o'clock in the afternoon 
marched as far as Shemung and encamped." 

Sunday, 29th Aug't. — At 8 o'clock in the morning the 
signal for march was given. We marched about 4 miles 
when our Light corps fell in with the enemy on the oppo- 
site side of a defile with some slight works thrown u}) in 
their front. The light troops exchanged some shots with 
them and amused them whilst Gen's Clinton's and Poor's 
Brigades with the right flank were ordered to file oft' by the 
right and gain the enemy's rear, which to effect, we had to 
ascend a very steep hill which the enemy had possessed 
themselves of. Whilst we were gaining the rear. Col. Proc- 

'1 The order of inireh Wii-< arraiij;ed to form a hollow square, General Hand's Bri^'ade 
in front ; General Poor's on the right ; General Maxwell's on the left ; and General 
Clinton's in the rear. Within the square was Col. Proctor's artillery, and eight line.s of 
led pack horses, and the beef cattle. On the right of General Poor was a flanking divis- 
ion, and flank guard, of two hundred and fifty men under Col. Dubois ; and alike flank- 
ing division and guard, on the left of Maxwell, under command of Col. Ogden. A strong 
advance guard of light infantry covered the front. 

■■-' Encamped on the site of Old Chemung, burned Aug. 13th. See note 66. 

:.s Encamped on the flats, near New Chemung, see note 66. Tlie army passed a \ery 
difticult defile, known as the "Narrows" west of present Chemung ; the artillery forded 
the river twice. 



hardenbergh's jourxal. 43 

tor with the artilleiy kept up a brisk lire on their works. 
On our ascending the hill thej began to attack ns. Our 
men undauntedly pushed on and gained the hill. The ene- 
my went off in confusion, left their dead on the ground.'"' — 
About sunset we encamped on the enemy's ground." We 
had one major, one Capt. and one Lt. wounded. The Capt. 
and Lieut, died of their wounds, also a few men wound- 
ed.'* 

'4 Four towns were destroyed in the vicinity of tlie battle field, viz. : 
1st. Newtown, an Indian village of abont twenty honses, occupied in 1779, located 
on the left bank of the Chemun? river about Ave miles below Elinira, and a mile above 
the fortified position between Baldwin's creek and the river. It gave the name to the 
battle fouiht near it Aug. 29, 1779. 

2d. A small village north east of the battle field of Newtown on both sides of Baldwin's 
creek, of twenty to thirty houses wliich had never been occupied, and were supposed to 
have been built for storing the crops grown in the vicinity. This was located at the 
point where Gen. Poor commenced the ascent of the hill ; and was destroyed by Clin- 
ton's brigade. 

3d. A small village near the angle in the works of the enemy on Baldwin's creek, the 
timbers of which were used by them in the construction of the fortifications. One 
house in front of their worlvs was occupied by the enemy as a block house during the 
engagement. 

4th. " Monday. Aug. .30. * * * Went up the river about two miles, then took up a 
long branch of the river (which runs near S. W.) one mile, Ijurnt five houses and de- 
stroyed all the corn in our way." — Beath/s Journal. 

'5 The Battle of Newtown was fought on Sunday, Aug. 29, 1779, near the Indian vil- 
lage of the same name, on the left bank of the Chemung river sis miles south east of El- 
mira. The enemy's force of British regulars, two battalions of Royal Greens, and Tories, 
were led by Colonel John Butler, with Captains Walter N. Butler and Macdonald as sub- 
ordinates ; the Indians by the great Mohawk Captain Thayendanegea, alias Joseph 
Brant. Butler being in chief command. The design of the enemy appears to have been 
primarily, an ambuscade. They had artfully concealed their works, and posted their 
forces in positions to attack simultaneously, both fianks, front, and rear; the position 
naturally strong, was admirably adapted to their purposes. From Elmira, extending 
south easterly for several miles, is a mountainous ridge, running parallel with the river, 
something over six hundred feet in height near the Indian village, but gradually melt- 
ing away to thf level of the plain wliere it terminates about a mile below ; on this soutli 
eastern slope was the battle of Newtown. To the north and east of this ridge is a simi- 
lar one, whicli also terminates near the battle field, and between them is a considerable 
stream, which, running nearly parallel vsith the river in its general course, enters the 
Chemung a mile and a quarter below. The river here sweeps around in a graceful curve, 
making a full semi-circle, enclosing several hundred acres of rich bottom lands, on whicli 
were the Indian cornfields ; the Wellsburg north and south road dividing it into two 
nearly equal parts. Rising abruptly from this plain is a sharp, narrow ridge, known lo- 
cilly as the Hog Back, this extends from the river across the plain nearly to the creek 



44 HAHDENBERGHS JOURNAL. 

Aug't 30. — Remained on the ground of 3'esterday. Tlie 
greatest part of the arm}^ were employed in destroying corn 
which was in o-reat abundance. 



a distance of about a third of a mile. The crest of this ridge was occupied by the ene- 
ni)' in force, protected by rude log breast works and rifle pits, which extended to the 
eastern extremity, and from thence turning north, connected with the steep banks of the 
creek above. The lines to be defended were these two sides of a triangle, their right 
resting on the river, their left on the mountain, the'path of the army passing between the 
two lines, along which was also the enemy's line of retreat. From the angle in the 
works a thin line extended to the mountain, on which was a body of the enemy and also 
another small body on the mountain to the east. The results at Chemung a few days 
previous, led the enemy to hope that a like blunder might be repeated, and that Wyo- 
ming and Minnisiuks were to be re-enacted. Presuming that the army, after crossing 
the creek, would follow the Indian trail without discovering their works, they flattered 
themselves that an unexpected fire on the exposed flanks would create great confusion, 
which if augmented by simultaneous attacks in front and rear by the forces in that quar- 
ter, might result in a panic, and a possible stampede of the pack horses and cattle, which 
would be quite as disastrous as the defeat of the army. But three companies of Mor- 
gan's riflemen, the pride of Washington, were in the advance ; these veterans of a hun- 
dred battles were in no way inferior to the enemy in Indian craft ; the works and posi- 
tion of the enemy were discovered when afar off, and this ingenious device of drawing 
our forces into an ambuscade was frustrated. The ambuscade failing, the alternative 
was presented of forcing a direct attack in front, under great disadvantage, or of a flank- 
ing movement, over very difficult ground, where nearly the entire force of the enemy 
could be brought to bear on the attacking force at any point on interior lines, possibly 
in time to repulse one division of the army before the other could come to its relief. 
The attack in front was invited by repeated sorties of a body of about four hundred of 
the enemy, who would deliver their fire, and immediately retreat to their works. After 
three hours of skirmishing, deliberation, and reconnoitering. General Sullivan deter- 
mined to divide his force, turn the enemy's left, and attack simultaneously in front and 
flank. 

The artillery was posted on a rising ground, three hundred yards from the enemy, in 
position to enfilade the main line of their works, and sweep the ground in the rear. Gen. 
Hand was to support the artillery, the left flanking division to threaten the enemy's 
right, and Gen. Maxwell's brigade to be held in reserve. Gen. Poor's brigade of four 
regiments, the right flanking division, and the three companies of riflemen, were to make 
a circuit of about two miles and turn the enemy's left and attack in flank and rear, to 
be supported by General Clinton's brigade of four regiments following as a second line. 
One hour was allowed for this movement, at the expiration of which, the artillery was 
to open, to be followed by a general assault of the two divisions. Poor almost immedi- 
ately after commencing his march, found himself involved in a thicket of underbrush, 
almost impenetrable, but after great difficulty reached the foot of the hill on which the 
enemy was posted, just at the moment the artillery fire commenced. Forming his line 
of battle with Lieut. Col. Reid's 2d N. H. on the extreme left, next to him Lieut. Col- 
Dearborn's 2d N. H., then Alden's 6th Mass., and Col. Cilley's ]st N. H. on the ex- 
treme right. To the right of the brigade was the right flanking division of two hundred 
and fifty men under Col. Dubois, the whole preceded by three companies of rifle- 
men under Maj. Parr. General Clinton's brigade formed line of battle with Col. Ganse- 
voorfs 3d N. Y. on the left, next Dubois 5th N. Y., then Livingston's 4th N. Y., with 
Van Courtlandt's 2d N. Y. on the extreme right, following in the rear of the first line. 




iHEKELiCTYPEFfJTiTlrnCS. Zi.ij DEi,;._,K!I£5' 



y 






('^^Vp 



Shovv/ng the Route: or Sulliv/kns Arm>^ 

— /\Hd - 

f^ouGHT AUGUST 2,^ri ijyo. ~ - - 

ALSO 



THE LOCATION Of THE INDIAN TOWNS 
IN THE VICINITY, AND 




hardenbergh's journal. -io 

Tuesday, 31st Ang't." — At 9 o'clock in the morning 
mai'ched off ; marched ten miles above Newtown and en- 

Poor when about half way up the hill encountered the enemj-, but not in sufficient force 
to materially check the advance of the flanking divigion, or the regiments on his right ; 
on reaching the summit of the hill, these rapidly pushed forward to seize the defile near 
the river, a short distance above Newtown, which was the only avenue of escape for the 
enemy. Almost at the commencement of the cannonade, the main force of the enemy 
adroitly abandoned their works without being discovered, and precipitated themselves on 
Col. Reid's regiment in greatly superior numbers. They swarmed about him in a semi- 
circle, and for a few moments made the forest ring with their exultant shouts, but for a 
few minutes only ; for Col. Dearborn having reached the summit of the hill, and missing 
Col. Reid on his left, on his own responsibility, faced his regiment to the rear and moved 
to his assistance. At the same moment the two regiments on the left of Clinton's brig- 
ade by a left oblique movement, came up from the rear to Reid's support, and the enemy 
soon found themselves dangerously threatened. The conflict was short, sharp and deci- 
sive, and the war whoop soon gave place to the retreat halloo. Poor with the remainder of 
his brigade, followed by the two regiments on the right of Clinton, had pushed rapidly 
for the defile. In the meantime Hand had advanced in front, and the left flankint; di- 
vision under Col. Ogden had worked its way along the river on the enemy's tiank, 
when, the enemy admirably commanded, and wisely discreet, sounded the signal for re- 
treat just in time to escape. A British account says : " In this action Col. Butler and 
all his people was surrounded, and very near being taken prisoners. On the same day 
a few miles from this he attempted again to stop them, but in vain. The Colonel lost four 
rangers killed, two taken prisoners and seven wounded " Twelve Indians vrere found 
dead on the field, the number of wounded unknown. The enemy were pursued for two 
or three miles above Newtown by the light troops, w'here Salmon says they made anoth- 
er stand, which appears to be confirmed by the account above quoted, but no details are 
given, and the matter is not alluded to in Gen. Sullivan's official report. The loss in 
killed according to the Indian official account, found four days after, near Catharine's 
town is as follows : "Sept. 3d. — This day found a tree marked 1779, Thandagana. the 
English of which is Brant. V-i men marked on it with arrows pierced through them, sig- 
nifying the number they had lost in the action of the 29th ultimo. A small tree \\as 
twisted round like a rope and bent down which signified that if ^\■e drove and distressed 
them, yet we would not conquer them." 

"•i The loss of our army is variou.sly given in different accounts of the action. Major 
Livermore (Journal Aug. 29) says that " but four or five " were killed and three officers 
and about " thirty others " were wounded. Lieut. Barton (Journal) that two or three 
of ours were killed and "thirty-four or five wounded." Gen. Sullivan, in a despatch 
written the next day after the fight, makes the entire, loss f.hfee killed and thirty nine 
wounded. 

77 During the march this day two towns ^^■ere burned, viz. : 

MiDDLETOWN. — A small Indian town mentioned in several Journals as lying bet\\'een 
Newtown and Kanawlohalla, on the north side of the river, consisting of eight houses, 
destroyed Aug. 31 by the army while on the march. 

Kanawlohalla.— Signifying a A«a(;o/i a ^;o/e, located on the present site of Elmira' 
destroyed by Sullivan's army Aug. 31. In some Journals this town is called Newtown, 
and the one near the battle field Lower Newtown, but a majority designate it by its Indian 
name, which, according to Mr. Maxwell should be spelled Canaweola, as pronounced 
by Red Jacket, and who also gave the signification, and the legend connected with it. 

Col. Dayton with the 3d N. J. regiment and a detachment of riflemen were detached 



46 hardenbekgh's journal. 

camped on a large pine plain, forming a square with our 
camp to secure our pack horses and cattle. 

AYednesday, Sept. 1st. — The signal gun fired at 8 o'clock 
in the morning. We marched at half past nine, marched 
about 6 miles through a flat level road at the end of which 
we entered a dark pine swamp, which continued four miles 
with almost impassable hills and valleys and arrived at 11 
o'clock at night at Catharine's town.'* 

here and sent up the river in pursuit of the enemj', whom the ad\';inced guard saw escap- 
ing in their canoes. He failed to overtake tliem, but found an Indian village at or near 
present Big Flats, which he destroyed. He encamped here for the night and rejoined 
the main army the next morning, by a march north-east through the valley, wHere the 
main body were encamped near present Horse Heads. 

■8 Catharine's Town — She-o-qua-ga. — An Indian village located on the high ground a 
little south of the present village of Havana. The town was on both sides of the inlet 
and about three miles from the head of the lake. This was the residence of the famous 
Catharine Montour, by many writers incorrectly confounded with Madame Montour, 
and by others with Queen Esther, of Wyoming notoriety. 

Madame Montour, a noted personage in the Colonial history of Pennsylvania, resid- 
ed at one time at the present site of Montoursville, in Pennsylvania, on the west branch 
of the Susquehanna, afterwards on an island near Shamokin ; and about 1749, when very 
aged and blind, removed to the vicinity of Lake Erie, where she probably died previous 
to 1753. She had several sons and ons daughter, all distinguished characters in Penn- 
sylvania annals. 

Queen Esther, notorious as the "fiend of Wyoming," '• who followed in the train of 
the victorious arm}', ransacking the heaps of slain, and with arms covered with gore bar- 
barously murdering the wounded who in vain supplicated for their lives." She was liv- 
ing at Shesheqnin six miles below Tioga point in 1773, and remo\-ed about that date six 
miles north, and founded a new town, afterward known as Queen Esther's town ; this 
was afterward destroyed by Col. Hartley in 177S, when she probably removed to Che- 
mung. She had a sister Mary, and one son, who lost his life a short time previous to the 
massacre of Wyoming, which was probably the exciting cause of her fury at that place. 
She afterward settled on the point south of I'^nion Spi-ings. in Cayuga County, and died 
there of old age. 

Catharine Montour was young enough to be the grand daughter of Madame Montour. 
At the time of Sullivan's campaign and for some years previous she had resided at her 
village near present Havana. She had two sons, Roland and John, and a daughter Belle. 
Her sons were conspicuous characters at Cherry Valley, Wyoming and in Sulli\an's 
campaign, where John was wounded in the battle of Newtown. Rolaud niairied the 
daughter of Siangorochti, the chief sachem of the Senecas; both sons were known as cap- 
tains in the many Indian raids against the border settlements. Catharine's reputed hus- 
band was Edward Pollard, a sutler at Fort Niagara, who was also the father of the fa- 
mous Seneca warrior. Captain Pollard, by another Indian wife. There was at this 
time another Capt. John Montour near Fort Pitt, who accompanied Colonel Brodhead 
in his expedition up the Allegany, who was loyal to the American cause throughout the 
war. In this expedition of Col. Brodhead, the husband of Belle Montour was killed. 



hardenbergh's journal. 47 

Thursday, 2d.^Laid still. Our liue of march being con- 
fused by the badness of the road the day before. 

Friday, Sept. 3d. — The signal gun fired at 7 o'clock, the 
army marched off at 8 o'clock, marched about twelve miles 
nnd encamped in the wood on the east side of the Seneca 
Lake.'^ The land good and well timbered. 

Saturday, ye -ith Sept. — The Gen'l beat at 9 o'clock in 
the morning. The army marched at 10 o'clock, marched -1 
miles and halted."" 

Sunday ye 5th. — The Gen'l beat at half past 9 o'clock, the 
armv marched at 10 o'clock and encamped in a town called 
CanJaya,^' or Appletown. 

Monday, Sept. 6th. — At two o'clock in the afternoon left 
^V|»})letown and marched about three miles and encamped in 
tlie wood.**" 

":i Peach Ouchard, ii small Indian town, was destroyed here, August 3d, on the point, 
culled Apple-tree town in Nukerck's Journal. Jenkins says " the army encamped about 4 
in the afternoon near a small Indian settlement," &c. 

8" CoNDAWHAW. — Au ludiau town occupied in ITtO, located on the east side of Seneca 
Lake on the present site of North Hector, was so called in 1778 by Luke S wetland, who 
passed through it while on his way to Kendaia. It was burned by the armj' Sept, 4, 
177'9. It is called Apple Town in William Barton's Journal. 

^1 IvEXUAiA, a town containing about twenty houses, located on lot 79 Romulus, on 
the east side of Seneca lake, on land now owned by Edward Van Vliet. It was about 
half a mile from the lake, on both sides of a small stream. Luke Swetland resided here 
for a year as a prisoner, until rescued by the army. Several journals give interesting ac- 
counts of this town, and especially of the Indian tombs, which appear to have been ar- 
ranged with more than ordinary care. It was the custom on the death of distinguished 
personages to paint on their monumental posts a record of important events relating' to 
the history of the deceased person. The fact that these tombs were . different in con- 
struction and style of ornamentation from others, suggests the idea that they were a 
remnant of some subjugated tribe, differing in mode of burial from the Iroquois. A 
noted Seneca warrior named Kendaia was conspicuous at the siege of Ft. Niagara in 
1759. 

■^■- Lieut. Hardenbergh mentions the fact of being '' drafted on the right flank, which 
was commanded by Col. Dubois." He was probably one of the one' hundred men draft- 
ed from the line, as part of the right flanking division, and consequently would be on 
the extreme right of the army while en route. The centre line of the army was the reg- 
ular Indian trail, which was opened to a suflicient width for the passage of the artillery. 
Along Seneca Lake, the present lake road follows substantially on the line of the trail. 

At this point, Beatty says '• we encamped close along the edge of the lake, and oppo- 
site to us on the west side or the lake, we could perceive a small Indian town." See 
note 84. (iothseungquean. 



48 hardenbergh's journal. 

Tuesday ye 7tb. — At 8 o'clock in the morning struck tents, 
marched off and crossed the outlet of the Ceneca Lake, where 
we expected to meet some opposition, but the enemy had 
left the town. We entered it, found a white child-'^ in the 
town, supposed to be about 4 years old, it was supposed 
they had taken away from the frontiers, where they had de- 
stroyed and burnt. The Ceneca Lake is supposed to be thir- 
ty-six miles in length from south to north. The land along 
the east side appears to be a rich soil and well timbered. At 
the north end is the outlet which is a continual stream and 
considerable large. About three miles and a half from tlje 
outlet is the town Cannadasago or Ceneca Castle. "■* 

Wednesday ye 8th Sept. — Laid still at Cannadasago. 

Thursday ye 9th. — Marched from Cannadasago about 8 
miles and encamped in the wood.*^ 

Friday 10th. — At 7 o'clock marched off about 7 miles and 
crossed the outlet of a small lake, a few miles from which 
stood a Town called Canandagui,^" about 15j miles from Cen- 



83 This child was tenderly cared for, adopted by Capt. Machin, an officer in the artil- 
lery, and christened Thomas Machin. After the return of the army it was placed in a 
family near Kingston, N. Y., where it died some two years after of small pox. No clue 
was ever obtained as to its parentage. 

84 Kanadaseaga, the grand village, so called from being the residence of the chief 
sachem of the Senecas, located one and a half miles north-west of present village of 
Geneva on both sides of Kanadaseaga Creek. This was the capital of the Seneca nation 
and contained about sixty well built houses. A stockade fort was built here in 1756 by 
Sir William Johnson, the remains of which were in existence in 1779 Rev. Samuel 
Kirkland was a missionary here in 1764-6. Was destroyed Sept. 9. 

Butler's Buildings.— A small village called Butler's Buildings was found on the 
shore of the lake, near present canal bridge, in the village of Geneva. 

GoTHSEUNGQUEAN, also Called Shenanwaga and many other dialectical variations, 
an important town, was also destroyed Sept. 8, by a detachment of riflemen under Major 
Parr. The name is perpetuated in Kershong creek, on which it was situated, on Seneca 
lake, seven miles south of Geneva. It contained twenty houses. 

S5 From Kanadaseaga the route was first south west for about two miles to the line of 
the present turnpike, and thence nearly due west along the line of the turnpike to Can- 
andaigua lake. Beatty mentions an ancient stockade fort between Kanadaseaga and 
Canandaigua.' This was on Flint creek on lot 92 in N. W. corner of the town of Seneca. 
The encampment was on Flint creek. 

sij Kanandaigua, an Indian town of twenty-three large houses mostly framed, located 
about a mile from the lake shore, in west part of present village of Canandaigua. The 



hardenbergh's jourxal. 49 

eca Castle, which we entered, and encamped at 3 o'clock, 
about a mile iiorth of the town in a large cornfield. 

Saturday ye 11th Sept. — Struck om- tents at 9 o'clock and 
marched about 9 miles through an open country, halted at 
11 o'clock for refreshment, moved at one o'clock, and arrived 
at a small town called Honyuga/' At this town we left a 
small garrison of one Capt, one Lieut, and lift}^ men, exclu- 
sive of invalids, with some flour, horses and cattle. 

Sunday 12th. — Left Hauiiyuga at 12 o'clock, marched 
about 11 miles and encamped in the wood.*- 

Monday, 13th. — At five o'clock in the morning marched 
about two miles to a small towni called Adjutoa,"' from this 

corn tield:*, which were very extensive, were located on the ridge north of the town. 
Ttie usual variety and quantity of fruit trees were found here, all of which were de- 
stroyed. From Kanandaigua the route of the army was nearly south west, substantially 
on the line of the present road through Bristol to the foot of Honeoye Lake, a distance 
of sixteen miles, to the next village of Hanneyaye. 

s' Hanneyaye, an Indian town occupied in 1779. located at the foot of Honeoye lake, 
about half a mile east of the outlet, and south of Mill creek. It contained about twenty 
houses, one of which was occupied as a fort under command of Capt. Cummings of the 
2nd N. J. regiment. Beatty gives the following description of the work which he says 
was occupied by three hundred men in all : "Thej' was encamped jound the house 
where we had left our stores, and the camp was abbateed in, and round the house they 
had made a small Fort of kegs, and bags of flour, and had three pieces of artiller}' in it, 
and the house they had made full of loop holes, so as to tight out of it in case of necessi- 
ty, and upon the whole I think they was very safe." 

«»< On leaving Hanneyaye the army forded the outlet near the lake, and taking a west 
course, nearly on the line of the present east' and west road leading west from present 
village of Honeoye, to the summit of the dividing ridge, and thence in a south west 
course, crossing the outlet of Hemlock lake at its foot, and continuing over the hill on 
same course to present Foofs corners, in the town of Conesus, where the army en- 
camped on level ground two miles north of the Indian town Adjutoa or Kanaghsaws. 

89 Kanaghsaws, or Adjutoa according to some Journals, an Indian town of 18 houses, 
located about a mile north west of Conesus Centre, on the north and south road 
that passes through the McMillen farm. Between the town and the lake on Hen- 
derson's flats were the cornfields. The village appears to have occupied the grounds 
in the vicinity of the McMillen residence, and extended north across the creek, 
and southward to the plateau now covered by an orchard which was probably an 
ancient palisaded site of the town. The main body of the army encamped on the 
night of the 12th nearly two miles north on the flats, south-west of Foot's corners. 
A local tradition exists that Hand with the light troops followed the road through 
Union Corners and encamped on the L. B. Richardson farm, south west of Cone- 
sus Centre at the False Faces, but nothing of the kind is found in any of the jour- 



50 HARDENBERGHS JOURNAL. 

place the Gen'l sent out a scout of one Sub. and 19 men to 
reconnoitre a town that was in front. On his return he was 
attacked by about 100 Indians and were all killed but 2 
men who had the good fortune to make their escape."" The 

nals, and is probably Incorrect. George Grant says a fine stream of water ran through 
the town, and that "Captain Sunfish, a negro, resided here, a very bold, enterprising 
fellow, who commanded the town." Several Journals mention the fact that Big Tree, a 
noted Indian warrior, also made this his home. President Dwight describes him as a 
man of lofty character and dignified deportment, and that he had strenuously urged his 
countrymen to observe strict neutrality, but without success. The chieftain stood on an 
elevated spot and saw his own pc-'.sessions destroj'ed. "You see how the Americans 
treat their friends," said some of those around him, favorable to Great Britain. " What 
I see," calmly replied the chief, " is only the common fortune of war. It cannot be sup- 
posed that the Americans can distinguish my property from yours, who are their ene- 
mies." The army was engaged until near noon in destroying the crops and re-building 
the bridge which had been destroyed by the enemy. 

■'" Groveland Ambuscade. — This, one of the most important matters connected with 
Sullivan's campaign, has, for a hundred years, rema ned a stumbling block and mystery 
to historians. This has arisen in part from erroneous views as to the location of Gath 
tsegwarohare and the trails, but mainly from the mistaken idea that Boyd's party wa 
the force against which the efforts of the enemy were originally directed, rather thaii 
that It was a formidable attempt to ambuscade the main army. 

From Kanaghsaws the trail led south westerly across the low grounds following the 
line of tlie present road near the inlet, and crossing it at, or very near the site of the 
present bridge, about three-fourths of a mile from the head of the lake. North of the 
bridge, the banks of the inlet are low and marshy, in many places impassable for infan- 
try, and at all points impassable for artillery and pack horses; while soi Ji of the 
bridge, is a wet swamp almost impentrable from the thick growth of w lerbrush. 
west of the lake and inlet is a steep hill-side, the face of which, cut up by ..uraerou! 
ravines, is so steep that with considerable difficulty an army could march directly up it. 
The trail after leaving the bridge probably continued south westerly up the hill o )lique 
ly, nearly on the line of the present highway to the summit of the bluff, and thenc 
turning; northwest followed along the heads of the ravines for a mile and thence direc 
ly west to Gathtsegwarohare. Directly west of the bridge, between two very deep r;- 
vines, is a space nearly half a mile in width, W'hich continues up the hill on very favo"- 
able ground for the advance of the army. It appears to be the only pnint where 
could advance in the order of march laid down, which would require a space of n^-ar 
a half a mile in width for the several columns. 

After the battle of Newtown, Butler and Brant with their demoralized forces, suV 
retired, powerless to prevent the advance of the devastating army. Butler had re 
the last Indian village of Canawaugas, located on the west side of the Genesee, t 
miles north of the Great Genesee Castle. Here he received re-inforcements of reg 
from Niagara, and determined to make one more effort against the invaders. Ga 
ing all his available forces of regulars, tories, and Indians, he left Canawaugas on 
morning of the 12th of September, and probably reached the position on the hill wei- 
Kanaghsaws, on the evening of the same day. Here they posted themselves north ol 
trail, at the heads of the ravines about three-fourths of a mile west of the bridge, ai 
mile and a half from Kanaghsaws. This was a most admirable position for an ami 



[ :. 



i..'.ir. 




(JJUIJUULUL jjjl ; llMiii y 

THE HELIOTWEPwinffioCD, 220 DEl-aiKIEE-'s^^'^^^"^ 



/v//ve rue 
I V ANS 

^_ AND 

cncampmei 

>WN3 IN THE V«C<N 
M— ACTUAL SURV 

»- John 

Auburn. N 

iS79 




hardenbergh's journal. 51 

annv remained in town till about 12 o'clock. Some were 

cade, and in many essential particnlars of topography and fact, bears a striking resem- 
blance to the fatal ground where Braddock so ingloriously sacrificed his army ; and 
had Sullivan advanced in the same blundering manner, he too, might have met with an 
equally disastrous defeat. The plan appears to have been, to attack a portion of the 
army after it had crossed the bridge, or to ambuscade the head of the column while as. 
cending the hill ; but whatever may have been the original design, it was completely 
frustrated by the fortunate movements of the unfortunate Boyd. It will be remem- 
bered that the army went into camp on the flats near Foot's Corners two miles north of 
the village of Kanaghsaws. Boyd and his party left camp at 11 o'clock at night, 
passed through the abandoned Kanaghsaws, and from thence pursued the direct trail 
which led south westerly up the hill to Gathtsegwarohare. In the darkness of the 
night, he passed Butler's right flank, neither party being conscious of the presence of 
the other, and reached Gathtsegwarohare, which the inhabitants had abandoned early 
jn the morning, without encountering anyditticulty. On the morning of the 13th Sulli- 
van advanced to Kanaghsaws, and finding that the enemy had destroyed the bridge over 
the iulet, he detailed a portion of the army to aid the pioneers in its reconstruction, 
and to repair the roadway over the low grounds leading to it. All of this was directly 
under the eye of Butler, who, according to a British account, '• lay undiscovered though 
only a musket shot from the rebels, and even within sight." On reaching the town 
Boyd halted his forces at the suburbs, himself and one of his men reconnoitered the 
the place, then rejoined the party and concealed themselves in the woods near the town. 
He sent back two of his men to report to General Sullivan, and awaited the light of the 
day whose morning was just breaking. These two men got through safely and re- 
ported. About daybreak four Indians were seen to enter the town by Boyd, one of 
whom was killed, another wounded, the rest escaped. Boyd then immediately set out 
to return, expecting to meet the army on the march, and when about half way, de- 
spatched two more men to inform the general of his intention to remain " on the path" 
and await the coming of the army. These men soon encountere'd five Indians, and re- 
turned ; the entire party then resumed the march, following and firing on the retreat- 
ing Indians, who lured them directly into the lines of the enemy. Colonel Butler hear- 
ing the firing on his right and rear imagined he was discovered, and that instead of am- 
buscading the rebels, he was himself to be surprised by this unexpected attack in the 
rear. No evidence whatever has appeared to confirm the conjecture, that Boyd's pres- 
ence was either known or suspected in that quarter, by Butler, or ai y portion of his 
force, until discovered by the five retreating Indians, and to them, only by accident ; 
but when discovered with true aboriginal cunning they allured their unsuspecting vic- 
tims to the fatal embrace of the enemy, who came there to surprise an army, but were 
prevented by the blundering of a scout. 

A few of Boyd's party who were acting as flankers escaped, five or six fell near the 
trail and were found when the army advanced, the remainder retreated a short distance 
north to a clump of trees, where their bodies were found all near together, and where 
all the bodies were buried on the return march of the army on the 16th. During the con- 
struction of the bridge a guard had been established west of the inlet, and Captain Lodge 
with his party engaged in making their surveys, had advanced some distance up the hill ; 
the bridge was about completed when the fugitive flankers came rushing down the hill 
pursued by small parties of the enemy. Hand's brigade immediately advanced up the 
hill to the position occupied by the enemy in the morning, where he found the packs of 
the enemy in the position they had left a few minutes previous. He remained here in 
line of battle until the army had crossed, and formed for the advance up the hill. 



52 hardenbergh's journal. 

emplo^-ed in destroying corn and some in building a bridge 
(across a mirey swamp and creek) for the artillery to pass. 
While we were so employed the surveyor" had advanced a 
little in front of the advanced guard, was fired upon by the 
Indians and had one of his party wounded.'^ At 12 o'clock 
we left the town, and arrived at a town called Cassawau- 
loughly''* 7 miles from Adjutoa, which we entered at sun- 
set.^'^ 

i*i Capt. Benjamin Lodge, with a party of assistants accompanied the army and with 
chain and compass surveyed the entire route of the army from Easton to the great Gen- 
esee town. On the return niarcli he accompanied Col. Butler's expedition tlirough the 
Cayuga country. 

"-' Corporal Calhawn, a volunteer, died the next day. 

^3 Gathtsegwarohare, so called by Nukerck ; Oaghegwalahale by Dearborn ; Cas- 
sawavlodghlij by Hardenburgh, was seven miles directly west of Kanaghsaws, on the 
east side of Canaseraga creek about two miles above its confluence with the Genesee 
river. Here is a beautiful plateau of about six acres, admirably adapted for an Indian 
town, at present occupied by the house and surrounding grounds of the widely known 
'•Hermitage," the ancestral home of the Carolls. The town contained twenty-five 
houses, mostly new, and appears to have been located on both sides of the stream north 
of the Caroll mansion. The tribe residing here called Squa-tche-gas by Sullivan ; by 
the Onondagas Tchoueragak, signifying wild cats ; by Cusic Squakihows, and by others 
Kah-kwas, were the same that afterward settled at Squakie-Hill, to whom was reserved 
the two square miles in the Big Tree Treaty of 1797. They were a remnant of one of the 
tribes of the historic Eries, who occupied the territory to the south and east of Lalce Erie 
whose blood, language, and league did not differ materially from the Iroquois Five Na- 
tions. After a terrible conflict, and many bloody battles the Eries were finally overthrown 
about the year 1635, and a remnant incorporated with the league. They were peimitted 
to live by themselves, to have a separate council fire and keep up a show of tribal rites, 
but were really vassals to do the bidding of their masters. Boyd and his party reached 
this town about at the break of day on the morning of the 13th, and found it abandoned. 
He sent two of his men to report to Gen. Sullivan and concealed his force in the adja- 
cent woods. Soon after four Indians on horseback entered the town, one of whom, 
Sah-nah-dah-yah, was killed and scalped by Murphy, when Boyd set out for camp. As 
Sullivan approached the town about dark on the 13th, he found the enemy, both Indians 
and rangers drawn up in battle array apparently intending to dispute the further ad • 
vance of the army ; but as the advancing columns assumed their positions in line of 
battle, and the flanking divisions moved to the right and left, threatening their lines of 
retreat, a few shots from the howitzers caused them to abandon their position, and re- 
treat across the Canaseraga. The army were engaged until noon of the 14th in des 
troying the cornfields which were very extensive in the vicinity of the town. 

H4 Chenussio.— This town, though not in existence at the time of Sullivan's cam- 
paign, is intimately connected with its history. It was located on the site of ancient 
Williamsburg, near the confluence of the Canaseraga and the Genesee, on the east .side 
of the latter river. It appears on the Guy Johnson map of 1771 as Chenussio, on the 
Pouchot map of 1758 as Connecchio, in both cases at the point described and where 



hardexbergh's journal. 53 

Tuesday, 14tli Sept. — At one o'clock left the town crossed 
the Chenesee flats and forded the Kiver which was about four 
feet deep and about thirty yards wide and arrived at the cap- 
ital town of the Chinisees, called the Chinisee Castle.'*' We 
entered the town about 6 o'clock, found Lieut. Boyd and 
one soldier^* whom they had murdered in an inhuman man- 
ner. Said Boyd was one of the party that was sent to recon- 
noitre a town as is mentioned before. The Chinisee Castle 
consisted of about one hundred commodius dwelling houses 
compactly built and pleasantly situated. 

Wednesday, 15tb Sept. — The whole army''" (exce2:)t the 

Mary Jeiinison's narrative says it was in her day. In 1750 it was visited by Camuier- 
hoff and Zeisberger, two Moravian missionaries, who called it Connesschioand describe 
it as tlien containing forty houses. All of these names are dialectical and or;hographical 
variations of the modern word Genesee, signifying the beautiful valley. Gaustarax, a 
celebrated Seneca Chief, was for many years a leading spirit of this town, and during 
the Frencti an Indian war, being thoroughly in the interests of the French, it required 
all the diplomatic ability of Sir William Johnson, and the influence of the other nations 
of the league, to neutralize his efforts. It was in existence as early as 1750, and as late 
as 1770, but in 1?68 it had ceased to be the western door, which honor was then held by 
the great town of Chenandoanes, on the west side of the river. At the time of Sulli- 
van's campaign it had ceased to exist or had dwindled into an insignificance unworthy 
of mention. 

This was the town that Boyd was sent to reconnoitre, and which Major Norris says the 
General expected to find on the east side of the river and two miles north of Gathtse- 
gwarohare. This is the town also, that writers confound with the great town west of 
the river, and which so perplexed General Sullivan in his examination of the maps. 

^5 Genesee Castle.— This was the great village of the Senecas, the western door of 
the Long House, located between Cuylerville and the west bank of the Genesee river, in 
the town of Leicester, Livingston County. It appears on Evans' map as Chenandoanes 
in 177tj, is mentioned as early as 1754 as Chenandanah, and is often called Little Beard's 
town. Sullivan's official report says : " The Castle consisted of 128 houses mostly large 
and elegant. The place was beautifully situated, almost encircled with a cleared flat, 
which extended for a number of miles, where the most extensive fields of corn were 
waving, and every kind of vegetable that can be conceived." 

;iH This soldier was named Parker, who with Lieut. Boyd were made prisoners. They 
were carried to Little Beard's Town, where Boyd after being tortured in a most cruel 
manner was beheaded. Parker was beheaded without being tortured. The remains of 
Boyd and Parker were removed to Mount Hope Cemetery in August, 1 84a. 

H7 Several writers claim that Canawaugas, on the west side, and Ohadi and Big Tree 
on the east side of Genesee river were destroyed in this campaign. No reliable author- 
ity has been furnished in support of the theory. Sullivan says distinctly that he went 
no farther than the gi-eat town, beyond which, as he was informed, there was no settle- 
ment, and no villages are mentioned in any account as existing on the east side of the 
river, nor is mention made of any portion of the army being on that side,— on the con- 



54 hardenbergh's journal. 

guards to wliicli I belonged) were employed in destro3dng 
corn from 6 o'clock in the morning till two in the afternoon. 
In the meantime a white woman^* with a small child came 
to us who had been taken prisoner at Weyoming. At about 
3 o'clock in the afternoon, we set the town on fire, marched 
off, re-crossed the Eiver and encamped after sunset on the 
Chinicee flats. 

Thursday, 16th Sept. — Decamped at 11 o'clock, marched 
six miles and encamped at the town of Adjutoa at half past 
five p. M. 

Friday 17th. — Decamped at 6 o'clock, marched off and 
arrived at the town of Haunyuga at one o'clock p. m. 

Saturda}', 18th Sept. — At 5 o'clock in the morning- 
marched, at 7 o'clock crossed the outlet of, a Lake at Can- 
nandagui,^'' and encamped at sunset on the east side of the 
outlet. 

Sunday 19. — At seven o'clock in the morning struck tents, 
marched at 8 o'clock and aiTived at sunset at Canada- 
sago.'"" 

Monday, 20tli Sept. — At two p. m. struck tents, marched 
off at 3 o'clock from Canadasago, crossed the outlet of Cene- 

trary, several mention tlie fact, that all the army were engaged in the destruction of the 
town, and cornfields, which, when completed at 2 o'clock on the afternoon of the 15th, 
the whole at my came to an about face, and returned on the same route and in same or- 
der in which they advanced. Butler left Canawaugas on the morning of the 1.5th for 
Niagara. 

9s Nathan Davis in his account, before referred to, mentions the incident with addi- 
tional particulars. Her story was that at the time she and her little boy were taken 
prisoners, her husband was killed by the savages ; that she had lived with the Indians 
some two years, and when the army entered the town, the day before, the Indians were 
in such haste to get out it that she could not follow them and finally lost herself in the 
woods, and thinknig it might be Butler's camp she had ventured to show herself. She 
was taken to the General's Quarters and well provided for. During the march the wo- 
man and her boy were furnished with a horse. On the third day of the march the child 
was taken sick and shortly after died. The boy was wrapped in an old blanket and 
hastily buried. The scene is described as exceedingly touching. She afterward mar- 
ried Roswell Franklin, the first settler of Cayuga County. 

99 Present Canandaigua Lake in Ontario county, see note 86. 

iw See note 84 for description of this town. 



HARDENBERGHS JOURNAL. o5 

ca Lake and encamped at sunset near the lake."" Previous 
to our march from Canadasago CoL. Butler of the -ith Pen- 
sjlvania Regiment was sent with a detachment to the Kiy- 
uga^"'' Lake to destroy some Indian settlements that were 
there. Col. Gansevort sent with one hundred men to fort 
Stanwix'"^ in order to send down some baggage which was 
left on the Mohawk River bv troops that had been stationed 
there the 2)receding year. 

Tuesday, 28th. — Struck tents at 8 o'clock, marched at 9. 
left Caudaya'"'' or Appletown about two miles in the rear, 
and encamped in the wood, along the east side of the Cene- 
ca Lake, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. 

Wednesday 22d. — At 6 o'clock the Gen'l beat, marched 
at 8, halted at one o'clock, about one hour for refreshments, 
and encamped at sunset along the east side Ceneca Lake. 

Thursday, 23d Sept.— Marched at 8 o'clock, left French 
Catharine, about 3 miles in the rear, and encamped at sun- 
set.'"' 

Friday, 24th. — About 6 o'clock in the morning- the Gen'l 
beat, marched at 8 o'clock and arrived at the forks of the 
Tiyuga or Newton. At this place there was a post estal)- 
lished by order of General Sidlivan, and provision for the 
army at their return.""^ 

lui This encampment was oh Rose Hill in the town of Fayette. 

I'l- Lieut. Col. William Butler. See Thomas Grant's account of the march of this de- 
tachment. 

i"S No account has been found of the exact route taken by this detachment. It is 
supposed they followed the regular Indian trail, the line of which was afterward sub- 
stantially adopted for the Seneca Turnpike, which passed through Aubnrn and Onondaga 
Hill to Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk, on the site of present Rome in Oneida County. 
On the way the party passed through the Oneida and Tuscarora towns, where every 
mark of hospitality and friendship wps shown the party. They reached Fort Stanwix 
on the 3.")th. 

I'H Kendaia. See note No. 81 for description of this town. 

iijo •• We lost in this place more than a hundred horses, and it has been called, I sup- 
pose, the valley of Horse Heads to this Aay.''—yathnn Davis'' Sfa/ement. 

wii During the absence of the armj' Col. Reid had constructed a palisaded work at the 
junction of Newtown creek and the Chemung just below Sullivan's Mills in Elmira, 
called in some accounts Fort Reid. 



56 hardenbergh's journal. 

Saturda*)', 25tli Sept. — Laid still. An ox and 5 gallons 
of rum was given to the officers of each Brigade.^"' A fu- 
de-joy was held in consequence of the arrival of the news 
of Spain declaring us Independent""* with 13 rounds of 
cannon was discharged, followed by two round of musketry 
intersjDersed with cannon. The evening was celebrated in 
our camp with much joy and gladness.'"^ 

Sunday 26th.— Laid still. 

Monday, 27th Sept. — A detachment under the command 
* * * was sent out and returned at night."" 

Tuesday 28th. — A detachment under the command of 
Col. Cortlandt was sent up the Tij^uga'" branch on purpose 
to destroy some corn. Col. Butler with his detachment 
joined us. The invalids were sent to Tiyuga in boats. 

Wednesday, 29th Sept. — The Gren'l beat at 8 o'clock in 
the morning, marched at 9 o'clock and encamped in the af- 
ternoon three miles below Shemung. 

Thursday 30th. — At nine o'clock in the morning marched 
off and arrived at Tiyuga at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. At 
our arrival we were saluted with a discharge of 13 cannon 
from "the Grarrison, and an elegant dinner was prepared for 
the officers. 

Friday, Oct. 1, 1779.— Laid still at Tiyuga."- 

Saturday 2d. — Laid still. Orders were given to load the 

1"' There were five brigades. 

i»>* At the same time news was received of " the generous proceedings of Congress in 
augmenting the subsistence of the officers and men." 

109 Thirteen appropriate toasts were drunk. The last was follows: "May the ene- 
mies of America be metamorphosed into pack horses and sent on a western expedition 
against the lni\vdns."—Lossin(/'s Field Book Rev., I, 278, note. 

11" " Sept. 27.— A large fatigue partj' was sent up the river nine miles, where they 
loaded nine boats with corn and other vegetables and brought them down. This even- 
ing Mr. Lodge and five men from Cul. Butler c ime in and informed us that the Col. 
was about 10 miles from camp." — Jenkins'' Journal. 

Ill Col. VanCortlandt says he went above Painted Post. 

11-' Tioga Point, below present Athens. See note 63. 



haedexbergh's journal. 57 

boat with stores, artillery, &c., aud to demolish the^ort"^ the 
next day. 

Sunday, ye 3d Oct. — Agreeable to the orders of the pre- 
ceding day the boats were loaded, the fort demolished and 
every thing got in readiness to march the next morning. 

Monday, -itli Oct. — -At 7 o'clock in the morning the Genl 
beat, struck our tents, the army marched at nine from Tiy- 
uga. The boats with the stores, artillery and sick set off at 
the same time, and encamped at evening at Wysaukin creek. 

Tuesday, the 5tli Oct. — The main part of the army em- 
barked on board the boats, the best were mounted on horses, 
left Wysaukin about 7 o'clock in the morning and arrived 
at Yanderlips'"^ farm, and stayed at night. 

Wednesday ye 6th Oct. — At 6 o'clock in the morning set 
off' and arrived at sunset at Lechawauny"^ about 10 miles 
from Weyoming. 

Thursda}^, 7tli Oct. — At 9 o'clock in the morning left 
Lechawauny and arrived at Weyoming"'' about 1 o'clock in 
the afternoon. 

Friday, Oct. ye 8th.— Laid still. 

Saturday, ye 9th. — Remained at Weyoming, but received 
orders to march at 6 o'clock the next morning. 

Sunday, Oct. 10th. — At 6 o'clock next morning were or- 
dered to march, but on account of our pack horses being 
strayed we did not march till 2 o'clock in the morning, when 
we left Weyoming and arrived at Bullock's"' at dark. 

ii:i Fort Sullivan, built on the narrow isthmus between the two rivers in present 
village of Athens. See note TO. 

I'-i Van der Lippes. See note 58. 

115 Lackawanna. See Note 55. The site of Coxton, ten miles from Wyoming at the 
upper end of the valley. 

lie Wyoming, fort and village on the east side of the Susquehanna below present 
Wilkesbarre. See note 44. 

11" Bullock's, deserted house, seven miles from Wyoming at the Great Meadows, and 
lifty-eight miles from Easton,— called also Sullivan's camp, from his encamping there 
June 23. Nathan Bullock resided here at the time of the Wyoming massacre. lie had 
two sons, Amos and Asa, one of whom was a lawyer, both killed in the battle. The 
father was captured and carried to Canada in 1780. 



58 ■ hardenbergh's journal. 

Monday, lltli Oct. — At 9 o'clock in the morning de- 
camped from Bullock's and encamped about two miles 
through the Shades of Death."* 

Tuesday, 12th Oct. — At 7 in the morning proceeded on 
our march. The after part of the day rainy and windy 
weather, we arrived at White Oak Run"^ at evening and en- 
camped. 

Wednesday 13th. — Decamped from White Oak Run at 
8 o'clock in the morning and arrived at Drinker's Mills^*° and 
encamped. 

Thursday l-lth. — Decamped from Drinker's Mills, marched 
from thence, and arrived within 11 miles from Easton and 
encamped'*' on the side of the road in a wood. 

Friday, 15th Oct. — Decamped at 7 o'clock, marched for 
Easton'*^ and arrived there about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. 

Saturday 16th. — Laid still. 

Sunday 17th.- — Laid still. 

Monday, 18th Oct. — Capt. Bevier and myself set out from 
Easton at 11 o'clock for Marbletown,'"'' traveled about twen- 
ty miles and put up at the Widow Sweezer's. 

Tuesday, 19th Oct. — At half past 7 o'clock in the morn- 
ing, traveled about 27 miles and put up at Gary's Tavern. 

lis Shades of Death, so called from being a dense forest. Several places in Penn- 
sylvania bore the same name. See note 31. 

119 White Oak Run, or Rum Bridge, .33 miles from Easton. See note 36. 

120 Brinker's Mills, or Sullivan's Stores, so called " on account of a large house 
built here, and a quantity of provisions being stored therein for the use of the forces 
under Major General Sullivan's command."— /?o<7«r*' Journal. Captain Patterson was 
in command ; 19 miles from Easton in present town of Hamilton, Monroe county. 

I'^i Encamped near Heller's Tavern at the foot of Blue Mountain, at present Heller- 
ville in town of Plainfield, Northampton county, 12 miles from Easton. 

1-J2 " Easton consists of about 150 houses. There are but three elegant buildings in 
it, and about as many inhabitants that are any ways agreeable. Take them in general 
they are a very inhospitable set— all High Dutch and Jews."- ,S7t'</«'« Journal. 

1-3 Marbletown, a town in Ulster Co., N. Y., west of the Hudson. They appear to 
have taken the road through Warren and Sussex counties, N. J. 



hardenbergh's journal. 59 

Wednesday 20tli. — At 7 o'clock a. m., left Gary's, dined 
at Bard's in Warick/-'* set out from tlience and put np at 
Bruster's Tavern about 11 miles from New "Windsor. '^^ 

Thursday, 21st.— Left Bruster's at 8 o'clock in tlie morn- 
ing and arrived at Newburgh, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. 

Friday 22nd. — Set out from Newburgh at 8 o'clock in the 
morning and arrived at the Poltz'-^ and staid that night. 

Saturday, 23d Oct. — At three o'clock in the afternoon set 
out and arrived home the same night. 

From the 23d Oct., 1779, I remained home till the 9th of 
Dec, when I set out to join the Heg't, whicli I did on the 
15th, and found them employed in building huts for winter 
quarters, about 3 miles from Morristown. 

124 Warwick on Wawa}'anda creek in south west part of Orange countj'. 

126 New Windsor on the Hudson, iu Orange county. 

1-26 New Paltz, a post village, on the Wallkill in Ulster County, N. Y. 



(The Hardenbergli Journal here closes. The Nukerck 
Journal continues the history of the regiment for the year 
1780 and until the five regiments were consolidated near the 
close of that year.) 



GENERAL CLINTON'S MARCH DOWN 
THE SUSQUEHANNA. 



General James Clinton was born in Orange County, 
New York, August 9tli, 1736. He was third son of Colonel 
Charles Clinton, brother of Governor George Clinton, and 
father of Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York. During 
the French and English war, in 175(3, he distinguished him- 
self at the capture of Fort Frontenac, where he was a Cap- 
tain under Bradstreet. Seven years later he commanded the 
regiments raised to protect the frontiers of Orange and Ulster 
counties against Indian incursions. In 1775, with the rank 
of Colonel, he acconijianied the chivalric Montgomery to 
Quebec. He was appointed a brigadier, August 9th, 1776, 
and commanded Fort Clinton when it was attacked in Octo- 
ber, 1777, by Sir Henry Clinton ; his brother, George Clinton, 
at same time being in connnand of Fort Montgomery. After a 
gallant defense against superior numbers, the forts were carried 
by storm. Gen. Clinton being the last man to leave the works. 
He was stationed at West Point during the greater part of 
1778. In 1779 he commanded the brigade of New York 
troops under General Sullivan. With a force of 1600 men 
he ascended the Mohawk to Canajoharie, and thence across 
to Otsego lake. Here he collected a large number of bat- 
teaux, and erecting a dam at the foot of the lake, raised the 
water several feet. By tearing away the dam, an artificial 
flood was made, on which the batteaux floated to the place of 
meeting at Tioga, the army marching alongside by land. 
The Journals of Lieut. Van Hovenbergh and Major Beatty 
give an account of this march. 



I 



beatty s journal. 61 

Major Erkuries Beatty. 

Major Erkuries Beattj, was born October 9, 1759, son of 
Rev. Charles Beatty, who came to America from Ireland in 
1729. He was an apprentice in Elizabethtown, N. J., at the 
beginning of the revolution, and served with the Jersey 
troops; was at Long Island Aug. 9, 1776, under General 
Sterling, and served as a sergeant at White Plains, Oct. 28. 
He was commissioned an Ensign in the 4th Penn. regiment, 
with rank from Jan. 3, 1777 ; was promoted to Lieutenant 
May 2, and was engaged in the battle of Brandywine, Sept. 
lltli of same year. He was badl}^ wounded at Germantown, 
but rejoined his regiment at Valley Forge in Januar}', 1778. 
He was at Monmouth June 28 of that year, and shortly af- 
ter accompanied his regiment to Schoharie, N. Y. He was 
with Col. Van Schaick in his expedition against the Onon- 
dagas in June, 1779, and with his regiment accompanied 
Gen. Clinton down the Susquehanna to participate in Sulli- 
van's campaign, during which he wi'ote a Journal covering 
the period from June 11 to Oct. 22 of that year, of which 
the following is a part, the original of which is now in the 
archives of the New York Historical Society, to whose cour- 
tesy we are indebted for permission to make a copy. He 
was at the surrender of Cornwallis Oct. 19, was mustered 
out of service Nov. 3, 1783, and died at Princeton, X. J., 
Feb. 23, 1823. 

Part of Beatty's Journal, 1 779. 

Monday, Aug. 9. — Agreeable to yesterday's order the 
Gen'l beat at 6 o'clock, the troops marched about 8, except- 
ing 3 Men which was to remain in each Ijoat to take them 
down the Piver. The Infantry march in front which I now 
belong to, and the Remainder of Battalions next, marched 



62 beatty's journal. 

on 16 miles within 5 miles of Yorkliam's'" where we en- 
camped on a small improvement called Burrows''"* farm 
where there was a great many Eattlesnakes and very large, 
there was one killed with 15 rattles on. 

Tuesday 10. — Eained a little last night and tins day till 
10 o'clock — marched off the ground at 3 o'clock and went 5 
miles to Yorkham's where we encamped, the men in the 
Boats encam])ed on the farm which lies on the East side of 
the River and the Remainder on the other side opposite, 
went on guard to-night. 

Wednesday 11. — Marched off this morning at Sunrise and 
proceeded on 14 miles down the River where we encamped 
on a small farm, passed several farms to-day with very poor 
houses on them and some none, the Riflemen in front saw 
fresh Indian tracks to-day on the Path and found a * * * 
at one of their * ''^ * To-day we crossed a large creek 
called Otego, and passed several Indian encampments, where 
they had encam})ed when they were going to destroy Cherry 
Yalley or returning, likewise we passed one of their encamp- 
ments yesterday, we encamped to-night at Ogden's farm and 
very bad encamjiing ground. 

Thursday 12. — Marched off this mornmg 7 o'clock, had 
the advanced Guard to-day, proceeded down the West side 
of the River as usual, 12 Miles came to a small Scotch settle- 
ment called Albout'"' on the other side of the River 5 miles 
from Unadillia which we burnt, but the people had gone to 
the Enemy this last Spring, went on to Unadilla, crossed the 
River to the East side and encamped, the River was about 
middle deep when we waded it. This settlement was de- 

5^" Joachim Van Valkenberg, afterwards killed in battle near Lake Utsayunthe in 
1781. 

12S Van Hovenberg's Journal says Burris Farms. 

li'i Albout. — A Scotch, tory settlement on the east side of the Unadilla river, five 
miles above Unadilla, was burned Aug. 12, 1779, by Clinton's detachment. Most of the 
Scotch Settlers went to Canada at the beginning of the difficulties ; those who remained 
were more in sympathy with the British than with the Americans. 



I 



beatty's jourmal. 63 

strojed by our detachment last fall excepting one house 
which belonged to one Glasford who went to the enemy this 
Spring, his house was immediately burnt when we came on 
the ground to-day. We passed several old Indians encamp'ts 
where they encamped when they destroyed Cherry Yalley, 
the road middhng hilly. 

Friday 13th. — This morning very foggy and a great deal 
of dew. Marched off at 6 o'clock, went 2 miles, waded the 
River about 3 foot deep, proceeded on to Conihunto^'"' a small 
Indian village that was, but was Destroyed by our Detach- 
ment last fall, its 14 miles from Unadilla.''" A little below 
this town there is 3 or 4 Islands in the Biver where the In- 
dians raised their corn. On one of those Islands our troops 
encamped with the boats and cattle, the light Infantry went 
2 miles from Conihunto where they encamped a little after 3 
o'clock in the woods. Middle good Road to-day. 

Saturday 1-lth. — Marched^this morning at 8 o'clock, very 
hilly road for the Right flank, arrived at the fording 2 miles 
fi'om Onoquaga''^'^ about 2 o'clock which is 8 from where we 
started, the ford being too deep to wade, crossed in our Boats 
to the East Side, went over a high hill and got to Onoquaga 
at 3 o'clock where we encamped on very pretty gi'ound. 
This town was one of tlie neatest of the Indian towns on the 
Susquehanna, it was built on each side of the River with good 

13" Conihunto, "called Gunnagmiter by Van Hovenberg, an Indian town 14 miles be- 
low Uuadilla, destroyed by Col. William Butler in 1778. It appears to have been on the 
west side of the river. 

131 Unadilla, an Indian town at the junction of the Unadilla with the Susquehanna, 
destroyed by Col. William Butler in 1778. " Returning to Unadilla, that settlement, on 
both sides of the river was burned, as also a grist-mill and saw-mill, the only ones in 
the Susquehanna Valley."— ig^fe;' of Col. William Butler. 

i-*i Onoquaga, an Indian town on both sides of the Susquehanna river, eight miles 
below Conihunto near present Ouaquaga in the town of Colesville, Broome Co. When 
destroyed by Col. Butler in 1778 he mentions a lower or Tuscarora town three miles be- 
low, this would be near present Windsor. The old fort mentioned is probably one built 
for the Indians by Sir William Johnson in 1756. Kev. Gideon Hawley was a missionary 
here at an early date. 



64 



BEATTYS JOURNAL. 



log houses with stone chimneys and glass windows, it likewise 
had a church and burying ground and a great number of apple- 
trees, and we likewise saw the Ruins of an Okl Fort which 
formerly was here many years ago, Tlie Indians abandoned 
this town last fall when they heard of our detachment coming 
to destroy it, they had but just left it when we came in it, but 
we did not catch any of them, but burnt their town to -ashes, 
and the detachment returned. This evening we fired an 
evening gun. 

Sunday 15th. — Very heavy dew this morning, went on 
Guard, the Army Remain at Onoquago to-day quiet, no news 
stirring as I hear of particular. 

Monday 16th. — -This morning a very heavy dew and fog, 
which is very customary in this country, was relieved of my 
Gruard and the day proved exceedingly warm, a heavy shower 
of rain this afternoon, at 12 o'clock Major Church wdtli the 
4th P. Regt. went out 5 or 6 Miles to meet 4 or 500 Mili- 
tia^^^ who we expected to join us here, but he returned in the 
evenino" and saw nothing of them. 

Taesday 17th. — Marched off from Onoquaga this morning 
8 o'clock, proceeded down the river 3 miles to one of the 
Tuscarora towns, which was burnt by one of our Detach- 
ments last fall, here waded the liver about 4 feet deep to the 
west side, went on one Mile when we came to anotlier of the 
Tuscarora towns called Shawhiangto'^* consisting of 10 or 12 
houses which we burnt, then marched on over a very barren 
moantainous countr}^ 10 or 12 Miles, came to a Tuscarora 
settlement called Ingaren'^'' consisting of 5 or 6 houses, but 

1-^3 Col. Pawling, commanding a regiment of New York levies, was to meet Clinton at 
this point, bnt arriving after the army had passed, they returned to Wawarsing. 

134 Shawhiangto, a small Tuscarora town four miles below Onoquago, burned b}' 
General Clinton August 17, 1779 ; it contained ten or twelve houses, located on the west 
side of the river, near present Windsor in Broome County. 

135 Ingaren, a small Tuscarora town, at or near Great Bend in Susquehanna county. 
Penn. It was called Tuscarora by Van Hovenberg, and described as being sixteen miles 
from the camp, four miles below Chenango river; and twelve miles by land and twenty 
by water, from Onoquaga, where the army encamped on the 16th. Was destroyed by 
General Clinton, August 17, 1779. 



beatty's journal. 65 

a good deal scattered, encamped at the lower end of the set- 
tlement after burning the houses, here they had planted a 
good deal of corn, potatoes, &c., which we destroyed, a few 
yards in front of our comp'ys encamping ground there was a 
tanfat farm with several Hides at a tannery which the sol- 
diers got, and close by it they discovered in a little hole, a 
man which was laid there and a little dirt thrown over him 
just to cover him. We had his head uncovered, but he was 
too putrified, we could not discover whether he was a white 
man or Indian but supposed to be a white man, as there was 
a Scotch Bonnet found near him. Marched to-day 15 miles. 
Wednesday 18th. — Marched off from Ingaren 7 o'clock 
through a very fine rich country very well timbered but 
poorly watered, scarce any ; arrived at Chinango River at -i 
o'clock where we forded it about 4 feet deep, and almost as 
wude as the Susquehanna but not so deep, as soon as we got 
over we halted and Major Parr with 100 men went up the 
River to destroy the Chinango town'^^ which lay 4 miles up 
the River, but when we came there we found the town was 
burnt, Avliich consisted of about 20 houses. It seems when 
the Indians evacuated it last winter they destroyed it, there- 
fore ^ve Returned and found the army encamped 2 Mile be- 
low the Chinango River. Marched to-day 22 miles, and 
burnt several Indian houses on the road. This evening 
came up the River 2 Runners who informed us that Gen'l 
Poor with 1000 Men was within 9 guiles of us coming to 
meet us and that Genl. Sullivan lay at the mouth of the Ty- 
oga and that he had sent part of his army up to Shamong 
which they had destroyed, and had returned to Gren'l Sulli- 
van with the loss of 9 men killed and some more wounded, 

136 Chenango, also called Otsiningo, an important Indian town located four niiles 
north of Binghamton on the Chenango river, in present town of Chenango, near the 
present village of the same name. The twenty-two miles travel mentioned, evidently 
includes the march up the Chenango to this [town, and from thence to the camp. Van 
Iloveuberg estimates the day's march of the army at 16 miles. Many writers incorrect- 
ly locate this town at Binghamton. 



66 beatty's journal. 

which was in small skirmishing. The Indians had taken off 
all their [property] from Shamong, except a few cattle which 
our people got. 

Thursday 19th. — Marched this morning 7 o'clock, went 2 
Miles where we burnt 7 or 8 houses on the East side of the 
River, 4 miles further at the Chuggnuts^-" we fell in with 
Gren'l Poor's army who was ready to march, they had burnt 
this settlement which lies on the East side of the River 
about 20 houses, made no halt here but went on 4 mile, 
Gen'l Clinton's army in front and Gren'l Poor's in the rear. 
Came to a middling large Creek where we made a halt for 
one hour, then marched on 12 Miles without halting and ar- 
rived at Owego'^'" about sundown after a very fatiguing 
march of 22 Miles. This afternoou fell a small shower of 
Rain. 

Friday 20th. — Rained a little last night, and successively 
all this day therefore did not move, went a party down to 
Owego town which lies (me mile lower down and burnt it, 
consisted of about 20 houses. 

Saturday 21. — Clear weather this morning but a very 
heavy fog, marched a little after 7 o'clock, forded Owego 
creek wdiich is about * * * one third of the Susquehanna, 
at this place it was about three feet deep and about 50 yards 
wide — Went thro, the * * * of Owego town, crossed a pret- 
ty large brook, went 12 miles, halted at a small brook one 
hour for refreshment. Proceed on 3 Miles further when we 



131 Choconut, or Chugnutt, an important Indian town of fifty or sixty houses, mostly 
on the south side of the Susquehanna at the mouth of Big Choconut creek, on the site 
of the present village of Vestal, in town of Vestal, Broome county. Burned Aug. 19, 
1779, by Gen. Poor's detachment which encamped on the north side of the river near 
present Union where the two detachments united. Gen. Clinton's camp the same night, 
was six miles distant up the river. 

138 OwAGEA, an Indian town of about twenty houses. Occupied in 1779, located on 
Owego creek about a mile from the Susquehanna near the present village of Owego in 
Tioga County. Gen. Poor's detachment encamped Aug. 17th on the site of present vil- 
lage, where was a small Indian Hamlet. Owagea was burned Aug. 19. 



beatty's journal. 67 

encamj^ed at 4 o'clock opposite Fitzgerald's farm'-^^ in the 
woods, it is a very fine farm but no lionse on it, nor any 
body living on it. On this ground where w^e encamped Mr. 
Sawyers a man who was made prisoner by Indians, along 
with his Neighbor Mr. Cowley who both lived on the head 
of tlie Delaware, after the Indians having them so far on' 
their Journey, they rose in the Night killed the Indians 
which was 3 or 4 and made their escape, we saw the * * * 
of the Indians * * * when w^e came on the ground. To- 
day Ave met with a bad accident, two of our Boats of Am- 
munition overset in the Eiver and Damaged a good many 
boxes of cartridges and a few casks of powder, to-night went 
on Guard. 

i->'' Manckatawangum, or Red Bank, here called FitzgerakVs Farm, appears to have 
been on the south side of the Susquehanna, in the town of Nichols, nearly opposite the 
village of Barton. Major Norris' Journal, in going up, says on the 16tli the detachment 
" encamped near the ruins of an old town called Macktowanuck ■'' (see p. 41) ; Lieut. 
Jenkins' Journal ; says " 10 miles from Tioga at a place called Manckatawangum or 
Bed Bcuil',^'' and mentions encamping at same point on tlie return march. A table of 
distances in Canfleld's Journal says ." from the mouth of the Tioga (Chemung) to 
Mackatowando 10 miles." This would locate the Indian town at or near present Bar- 
ton. On the Tioga county map, Mohontowonga Farm appears on the south side of the 
river opposite Barton, and an island in the river named Mohontowango. 

Early in the spring of 1779, two men named Sawyer and Cowley were captured near 
Harpersfleld, by four Schobarie Indians, named Han Yerry, Seth's Henry, Adam and 
Nicholas. One of the captives was an Irishman, the other a Scotchman. They were 
refugees from Harpersfleld, who had sought safety in Schoharie at the beginning of the 
difficulties. The prisoners could not speak Dutch, which the Indians understood, nor 
could the Indians understand English. When captured, they claimed by signs to be 
friends of the King, and were not only willing, but anxious to accompany their captors. 
The prisoners set off with such apparent willingness on the journey, that the Indians 
did not think it necessary to bind them, but permitted them to procure wood and water. 
They had been captives eleven days without finding a favorable opportunity for escape, 
but on arriving at a deserted hut at this point, the captives were sent to cut wood a few 
rods distant, using for this purijose an ax belonging to one of the prisoners. On such oc- 
casions, usually one cut and the other carried to the camp fire; but this time, while Cow- 
ley was chopping, and Sawyer waiting for an armful, the latter took from his pocket a 
newspaper, and pretended to read its contents to his fellow, but really proposed a plan 
for regaining their liberty. After procuring a suthcient quantity of wood, and partaking 
of a scanty supper, they laid down for the night as usual, a prisoner between two In- 
dians. When the Indians were sound asleep, the prisoners arose, secured the guns, 
shaking the priming from them. Sawyer securing the tomahawk of Han Yerry, and 
Cowley the ax. At a given signal, the blows descended, and the weapons sank deep in- 
to the brain of their victims, but unfortunately. Sawyer in attempting to free his weap- 



68 BEATTY S JOURNAL. 

Sunday 22d. — Marclied off tliis morning 7 o'clock, ])ro- 
ceeded on, we crossed two middling large brooks. Arrived 
at Tjoga 11 o'clock, where we found Genl. Hand's Brigade 
encamped one Mile above the mouth of the Tyoga where 
they was building 4 Block houses, the other troops was en- 
camped over the point which was Gren'ls Poor's and Max- 
well's Brigades, we encamped on the Eight of the whole. 
On our coming into camp we was sainted by 13 Pieces of 
cannon which was Keturned by our two little pieces on the 
Eiver. We found Gen'l Hand's Brio-ade under arms with a 
Band of Music which played Beautiful as we passed by 
them, We encamped on a very ^'" * * pretty piece of ground 
and spent the Remainder of the dav in seeing our friends in 
the different Regiments, likewise when we arrived here our 
Infantry was disbanded and ordered to join their respective 
Regts. Very heavy shower of rain this afternoon. Marched 
7 miles to-day. 

on from the skull, drew the handle from its socket. These two Indians were killed, 
but the noise awoke the others, who instantly sprung to their feet ; as Seth's Henry 
arose, he received a blow partially warded off hy his right arm, but his shoulder was laid 
open and he fell back stunned ; the foiTrth, as lie was about to escape, received a heavy 
blow in the back from the ax ; he tied to a s^^•amp near by and died. On returning to 
the hut and consulting as to what course they slionld pursue, Seth's Henry, who had 
recovered, but feigned death, again sprang to his feet, caught his ritle and snapped it at 
one of the prisoners, ran out of the hut and disappeared. The two friend.s primed the 
remaining guns and kept vigilant watch until daylight to guard against surprise. They 
set out in the morning to return, but did not dare to pursue the route they came, ver3'' 
properly supposing there were more of the enemy in the vicinity, to whom the surviving 
Indian would communicate the fate of his comrades. They re-crossed the river iu a 
bark canoe which they had used the preceding afternoon, and tlien directed their course 
for the frontier settlements. On the first night, Cowley, carried away by the excite- 
ment was deranged for hours, and liis companion was fearful that his raving would be- 
tray them, but reason returned with daylight. As they had feared, a party of Indians was 
soon in hot pursuit— from a hill they saw ten or a dozen in the valley below ; but they 
concealed themselves beneath a sheltering rock, and remained there one night and two 
days. When there an Indian dog came up to them, but after smelling for some time, 
went away without barking. On the third night they saw the enemy's fires literally all 
around them. They suffered much from exposure to the weather, and still more from 
hungei-, but finally arrived at a frontier settlement in Pennsylvania, and afterward re- 
turned to Schoharie, where they were welcomed as though risen from the dead. Saw- 
yer is said to have died many years after in Williamstown, Mass., and Cowley in A\- 
haiiy.—Synwi's ScJioharie, 291, 2, 3. 



EXPEDITION AGAINST THE CAYUGAS. 



March of Colonel Butler Along the East Side of 
Cayuga Lake. 

On the return march, wlien the army reached Kanadaseaga 
on September 20, Lieutenant Colonel Butler commanding 
the Fourth Pennsylvania regiment was detached with six 
liundred men, with orders to proceed around the north end 
of Cayuga lake,. and devastate the countrj^ of the Cayagas on 
the east side of the lalce. At the same time a force under 
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Dearborn was ordered to move 
along the west side, the two detachments to unite at the head 
of the lake and from thence to join the main army at Catha- 
rinestown. 

Wii-LIAM Butler was the second of five brothers, all of 
whom served with distinction in the Eevolution and the 
succeeding wars. Their names were Eicharcl, William, 
Thomas, Percival and Edward. Thomas, the third brother, 
is said to have been born in Pennsjdvania in 1754:, and Rich- 
ard the elder in Ireland, so that William was either born in 
America, or came here from Ireland when very young. He 
was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel October 25, 1776, on 
the organization of the Fourtli Pennsylvania Eegiment. 
Immediately after the battle of Monmouth, in which he bore 
an important part, his regiment and six companies of Mor- 
gan's riflemen w^ere sent to Schoharie County, New York, 
where he was actively engaged in protecting the frontier set- 
tlements from the marauding parties of tories and Indians. 



70 grant's journal. 

After the Wyoming massacre in 1778, as a part of the ag- 
gressive policy determined on by Wasliington, he marched 
to the Delaware, and decended that stream for two days, and 
from thence moved across the country to the Susquehanna at 
Unadilla in pursuit of the enemy, who fled at his approach. 
From here he moved down to Onoquaga, which was a well 
built town, with many good farm houses in the vicinity be- 
lono-insf to the tories, located on both sides of the river. He 
destroyed Onoquaga, and a Tuscarora town lower down, 
Conihunto eight miles above, and Unadilla, with the grist 
and saw mill there, the only ones in the A^alley, and forced 
the enemy to remove westward to the Chemung where they 
were found by Sullivan the next year. He was in garrison 
in the Middle fort of Schoharie during the winter, and in 
August, 1779, accompanied Clinton down the Susquehanna 
to Tioga point where he was transferred to General Hand's 
Brigade August 23d of that 3'ear. This was the Colonel 
Butler to whom General Sullivan entrusted the responsible 
duties of conducting this imj^ortant expedition, second only 
in importance to that of the main arm}^ Two journals give 
an account of Colonel Butler's march, viz., Thomas Grant, 
who appears to have been one of the surveying party under 
Captain Lodge, and George Grant, Sergeant Major of the 
Third New Jersey regiment, the latter evidently copied from 
some other journal. 



Part of Tho:\ias Grant's Journal. 

Sept. 20. — This day a detachment of six hundred men 
with a sufficiency of officers under the command of Col. 
Wm. Butler were sent into the Cayuga country, with which 
detachment I was ordered. They marched from Cannadesago 
at 3 o'clock P. M. Marched this dav 8 miles to an Indian 



GRANTS JOURNAL. 71 

town hy the name of Scawjace''*" where about 8 acres of 
corn was destroyed. 

Sept. 21. — The detachment marched this morning at 7 
o'clock A. M. 16 J- miles to a small Indian settlement'"'^ 1^ miles 
short of Cayuga Castle, where we encamped for the night. 
At 8|- miles crossed the outlet of Cayuga, which in breadth 
was about 70 perches, and more than middle deep to the 
men. Near the outlet we destroyed two Indian houses. The 
name of the place Choliaro'"*- and 'destroyed on the lake in 
different places * * * houses and * * * acres of corn, but 
saw no enemy. The general course since we crossed the out- 
let, nearly south, the road not more than half a mile from 
the lake at furthest, the land middling. 

Sept. 22, 1679.— Marched this day at 6 o'clock A. M. 2 
miles to the Cayuga Castle,''*'' an Indian town of that name 
containing in number about 15 very large square log houses. 
I think the building superior to any yet have seen. [Here] 
cattle were killed and three days beef issued to the troops. 



i-i" ScAWTACE 01- Long Falls, an important Indian town of eighteen houses, located 
on the north bank of Seneca river at present site of Waterloo, in Seneca County. It 
was partially destroyed on August 8, during the advance of the army by a party of vol- 
unteers under Colonel Harper. George Grant mentions the fact of " several fish ponds 
abounding opposite the town." These were circular enclosures of stone from thirty to 
forty feet in diameter, built up on the rocky bed of the stream, where the water was 
neither very deep or rapid, so constructed as to permit the water to pass through, but 
to retain the fish. 

I'll Gewauga, a small hamlet on the present site of Union Springs in the towu of 
Springport, on the east side of Cayuga lake. 

i+- Choharo. — This was the Tichero or St. Stephen of the Jesuit Relations, said to 
signify t/ie place of rushes, located at the foot of Cayuga lake on the east side, at the exact 
point where the bridge of th« Middle Turnpike left the east shore. The trail across the 
marsh followed the north bank of an ancient channel of the Seneca river, which at an 
early day took that course. The turnpike afterward followed substantially the line of 
the trail and crossed the present line of the Cayuga and Seneca canal three times be- 
tween Mud Lock and the old Demont tavern on the opposite side of the marsh. The 
salt springs mentioned by Father Raffeix in lers, were on the west side of the marsh 
about half a mile north of the N. Y. C. Rail Road bridge, and on the bank of the an- 
cient river channel. 

i-*s Cayuga Castle, an Indian town containing fifteen very large houses of squared 
logs, located on the south line of the towni of Springport in Cayuga County, on the north 
bank of Great Gully brook, and from one to two miles from the lake. 



72 grant's journal. 

The fatigue parties were sent to destroy the corn to the 
amount of about 110 acres, though not all destro3'ecl this day. 
Two other towns were discovered, one 23|- miles from the 
Seneca Lake, which we called Upper Cayuga,'" containing 
14 large houses, the other about two miles east of the Cas- 
tle which we called Cayuga,''*^ containing 13 houses. The 
troops were all employed this day in destroying corn till af- 
ter dark. We found at this town apples, peaches, potatoes, 
turnips, onions, pumpkins, squashes, and vegetables of vari- 
ous kinds and great plenty. 

Sept. 23, 1779. — This day the troops were employed till 3 
o'clock P. M. in finishing the destruction of the corn and 
burning the aforementioned towns within. Marched 6 miles 
to an Indian town by the name of Chandot"*^ or Peach Town, 
remarkal)le for a large Peach orchard containing * ^ * hun- 
dred fine thriving peach trees, likewise * * * acres of corn. 
This town contained about 12 or 14 houses chiefly old 
buildings. Part of the corn was destroyed this evening. 

Sept. 24, 1779. — This morning the troops were employed 
in finishing the destruction of the corn and peach trees. At 
10 o'clock A. M. fire was set to this town and the detachment 
went off the ground. Marched this day IQ^ miles and en- 
camped on a pleasant hill'^' near a fine creek about one 
hour after dark. The land we passed this day well timbered, 
and the soil very good, but very scarce of water. 9 miles 
from Chondote we crossed a stream of water which fell over 



144 Upper Cayuga, an Indian town of fourteen very large houses located near the 
north line of the town of Led^-ard in Cayuga County, on the south bank of Great Gully 
brook, and as appears on the map, between one and two miles from the lake. 

145 East Catcga, or Old Town, contained thirteen houses located in the south-east 
corner of the town of Springport, as indicated on the map, from three to four miles from 
the lake. A site in the south-west corner of Fleming was a site of this town at about 
this date. 

i-io Ohonodotb, so named on Capt. Lodge's map, an Indian town of fourteen houses, 
on the site of present Aurora iu Cayuga County ; according to George Grant's journal 
it contained fifteen hundred peach trees. 

1-1" On the hill north of Ludlowville. 



graxt's journal. 73 

rocks 80 feet perpendicular. 3 miles from [this] we crossed a 
second stream"'^ which fell about 50 feet perpendiculai-, which 
empt}^ themselves into Ca3aiga lake. Saw no enemy this 
day. The general course S. 30 ^ E. 

Sept. 25, 1779. — Marched this morning about 6 o'clock 
and encamped at an Indian town 3^ miles above Cayuga- 
Lake. The town appeared to be just consumed, supposed to 
be burnt by a detachment from Geii'l Sullivan's army.''*'' The 
town was situated on a rising ground in a large, beautiful 
valley. The soil equal to or rather superior to any in the 
country, through which runs several line streams of water, 
the first a creek about -i poles wide, which falls from the 
mountain on the east side of the valley about 120 feet per- 
pendicular into which creek three other fine streams empty, 
the second creek is the principal supply of the Cayuga Lake 
navigable for large canoes or boats to the town. 

[The journal here ends abruptly ] 

14-* The flr8t of these falls was probably on Mill Creek, two and a half miles south-west 
of Northville; the second near Lake Ridge in the town of Lansinj;. 

i« CoRBORdONEL was burned by the detachment under Colonel Dearborn. See his 
account September 24, and note 161. 

Part of George Grant's Journal. 

Sept. 20, 1779.— I return to the 20th to follow Col. Butler, 
who left US at Kanadasago, and proceeded along theoatlet of 
Seneca Lake for 8 miles and halted at Schoyerre, formerly 
destroyed by Col. Harper. 

Sept. 21. — Early this morning a l»arty of 200 men under 
the command of Maj. Scott was despatched to destroy corn, 
&c., the remainder with Col. Butler, proceeded on forward. 
Seven miles of the road was very bad, the land poor and bar- 
ren, and no water. Tliey then entered on an excellent 
swamp which produces fine timber, the soil exceeding rich 



74 grant's journal. 

and fertile. This extends for 4 miles, when, thej reached 
Caiuga Lake. This they crossed at a place wading it to their 
breasts in water, where they halted waiting for Maj. Scott 
and his party. As soon as they had joined, they proceeded 
along the side of the lake side, the land excellent, the timber 
large and the country level and well watered. Came to a 
habitation within one mile of Caiuga town and encamped 18 
miles from Scoyerre. 

Sept. 22. — Marched to Caiuga'^" one mile distant. This 
town is large and commodius, consisting of 50 houses mostly 
well built. The party went immediately to destroying corn, 
&c., with which this place abounds, but the water very bad 
and scarce. Here was found some salt of the Indians making 
from the Salt Springs'^' which are in this country. Found 
several muskets here, branded with the brand of the United 
States ; also a few Kegiraental coats, blue, faced with white. 

Sept. 23. — The most part of the day taken up in destroy- 
ing scattering towns, corn, &c., within 2 or 3 miles all around 
this town. About 4 o'clock marched for another town'"''* dis- 
tant 4 miles but could not learn any name for it, and here 
halted for the night. 

Sept. 24. — This morning went to destroying corn,- beans, 
and orchards. Destroyed about 1500 Peach Trees, besides 
apple trees and other fruit trees. This town consisted of 13 



150 Goi-0-gouen, of the Jesuit Relations, and site of the Mission of St. Joseph, called 
also Cayuga Castle, and the same described as three towns by Thomas Grant under the 
names of Cayuga Castle, fifteen houses; upper Cayuga, containing fourteen houses; and 
Cayuga, containing thirteen bouses. The houses were very much scattered, and on both 
sides of Great Gully brook on the south line of the town of Springport in Cayuga Coun- 
ty. Greenhalgh, an English trader, passed through the Cayuga country in 16T7, and 
found them there occupying " three towns about a mile distant from each other ; they 
are not stockaded. They do consist in all of about one hundred houses and intend next 
Spring to build all their houses together and stockade them. They have abundance 
of corn, and lie within two or three miles of lake Tichero." 

151 These salt springs were located on the opposite side of the river from Choharo, see 
note Ui. Luke Swetland, a prisoner in 1778, made salt at these springs, which he says 
was of excellent quality. 

15-2 CiioNODOTE. See note 14ti. 



grant's journal. 75 

houses. Then marched for 18 miles, the first 12 the land 
exceeding good, the other six not extraordinary. 

Sept. 25. — Marched for 10|- miles the road mostly bad, 
having to ascend and descend extreme steep and difficult 
mountains, then through thick and difficult swamps. Passed 
tlie end of Caiuga Lake and halted at De-ho-riss-kana- 
dia^°^ which they found burnt and the corn partly destroyed. 
Here was found the Rev. Dr. Kirkland's horse, supposed to 
be left here by the party who destroyed the corn, &c. 

Sept. 26. — Marched for 8|- miles through the Great Swamp. 

Sept. 27. — Marched for 17 miles, 15 of which was through 
the above swamp. Most part of the way, they had to steer 
by the sun, i^ere not being the least semblance of a road or 
path. A man of this party died suddenly. 

Sept. 28. — Marched for one mile and crossed the outlet 
(inlet) of Caiuga Lake, and came upon ground occupied bv 
the army on the night of the 31st of August, from there to 
Kanawaholee,'"'* where they joined the uiain body of Sulli- 
van's army. 



13S CoREORGONEL, two miles south of Ithaca, de8tro}'ed by the detachment under Col 
Dearborn on the 24th. See note 161. 
154 Kanawloualla, on the site of present Ehnira. See note 77. 



MARCH OF COLONEL DEARBORN ALONG THE 
WEST SIDE OF CAYUGA LAKE. . 



On the return marcli, after crossing the outlet of Seneca 
Lake east of Kanadaseaga, the army encamped on the high 
ground at Rose Hill, near the east shore of the lake. Here 
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Dearborn commanding the Third 
New Hampshire regiment, was detached with two hundred 
men and ordered to march along the west shore of Cajaiga 
lake to co-operate with Colonel Butler in devastating the 
country of the Cayugas. 

Colonel Dearborn was born in Hampton, N. H., in March, 
1751. He was a captain at Bunker Hill, and accompanied 
Arnold in the march through the woods against Quebec, in 
which expedition he was captured. He was exchanged in 
1777, and soon after was appointed Major of Scammel's regi- 
ment. At Saratoga he commanded a se}xirate battalion un- 
der General Gates, and was afterwards at Monmouth, where 
he distinguished himself and the regiment by a gallant charge. 
In 1779 Colonel Scammel was acting as Adjutant General 
of the army, leaving Lieut. Colonel Dearborn in command of 
the regiment during Sullivan's campaign. He was at the 
siege of Yorktown in 1781, and afterward on garrison dut}'" 
at Saratoga and AYest Point until 1784. He served two 
terms in Congress, was for eight years secretary of war un- 
der Jefferson, and in the war of 1812 was senior Major Gen- 
eral of the array. In 1822 he was minister to Portugal, from 
whence he returned after two years' service, and died in Rox- 
bury, Mass., June 6, 1829. After his death, his son, Henry 



DEARBORX'S JOURXAL. 77 

Alexander Scammel Dearborn, collected and arranged the 
valuable papers of his father, transcribed the journals, which 
extended through the entire period of the revolution, and 
added important historical sketches, the whole making for- 
ty-five large volumes handsomely bound in morocco, the ex- 
terior approximating in elegance to the inestimable value of 
the material within. On the death of the son, all of these, 
excepting seven volumes, were taken apart, and the contents, 
made up of valuable autograph letters of the revolutionary 
period, scattered to the four winds by a sale at public auction. 
The original manuscript Journal of Sullivan's campaign fell 
into the hands of Dr. John H. S. Fogg, of Boston. The manu- 
script Orderly Book of Valley Forge, was purchased b}' John 
H. Osborne, Esq., of Auburn. The seven volumes, contain- 
ing no autographs, were reserved at the sale and remain in- 
tact. In one of these is the Journal kept during Sullivan's 
campaign, as transcribed b}' the son, of which the following 
is an extract : 



Part of Coloxel DeartBorx's Jourxal, 1779. 

Sept. 21. — I was ordered with 200 men to proceed to 
the west side of the Cayuga Lake, from thence down the 
side of the lake to the south end, to burn and destrov such 
houses and corn as might be found and to intercept the Cay- 
ugas if they attempted to escape Col. Butler. At 8 o'clock 
I marched, proceeded an east course about 8 miles and 
found 3 wigwams in the woods'^' with some small patches of 
corn, squashes, water-melons and cucumbers and 15 horses 
whicli we could not take. Destroyed this village, j)roceeded 
4 miles to the lake where we found a very pretty town of 10 



155 This hamlet appears to have been located on the farm of Thomas Shankwiller, 
near the south-east corner of lot 15 in the town of Fayette, Seneca County, probably 
on Sucker brook. 



78 deakborn's journal. 

houses'^'* and a considerable quantity of corn, all which we 
burnt. We discovered another small town about a mile above 
this, we likewise destroyed. This place is called Skanna- 
utenate,'" After destroying this town I marched on one 
mile, and came to a new town^^^ consisting of 9 houses which 
we destroyed, and proceeded one mile and found one large 
house which we set fire to, and marched 2 miles and en- 
camped. The land we marched over this day is exceeding 
fine. 

Sept. 22. — I marched ^ an hour before sunrise, proceeded 
5 miles and came to the ruins of a town which a part of our 
army burnt when it was advancing who missed their way 
and happened to fall in with it, ^ a mile distant found a large 
field of corn and 3 houses. We gathered the corn and burnt 
it in the liouses. This town is called Swahyawana.'*" Moved 
on 5 miles and came to a wigwam with 3 squaws and one 
3'oung Indian who was a cripple. I took 2 of the squaws 
who were about 40 years of age and marched on 3 miles and 
found 1 hut and a held of corn which was burnt. Went 4 
miles further and encamped. 

Sept. 23. — Marched at sunrise, proceeded without any 
path or track, or any person who was ever in this part of the 



156 A town of ten honses, located on the west bank of Cayuga lake at the north-east 
corner of the town of Paj'ette, in Seneca Count}% about a mile and a half from present 
Canoga village. Destroyed Sept. 21, 1779. 

15" Skannatutenatb, a small village located about forty rods from the shore of the 
lake, on the south bank of Canoga creek, about half a mile north-east of present Canoga 
village On the north bank of tlie creek, between the site of the old Indian town and 
the north and south road passing through Canoga, is said to fee the birth-place of the re- 
nowned Seneca orator, Sagoyewatha or Eed Jacket. Destroyed Sept. 21, 1779. , 

15^ Newtown — An Indian village of nine houses, located on the west bank of Cayuga 
lake, on the Disinger farm, a mile south of present Canoga village, and directly opposite 
the village of Union Springs on the east side of the lake. Destroyed Sept. 21, 1779. 

153 SwAHTAWANA, was On the farm of Edward R. Dean, in the north-east corner of the 
town of Romulus, in Seneca county, on the north bank of Sinclair Hollow creek, near 
the shore of the lake, and almost exactly opposite the important town of Chonodote, on 
the east side, at site of present Aurora. Was burned September 6, by a party that wan- 
dered from the track of the main army when they passed up on the east side of the lake. 



dearborn's journal. 79 

country before to guide us, and the land so horribly rough 
and brushy that it was difficult to advance, however with 
great labor and difficulty we proceeded 8 miles to the end of 
a long cape'*" which I expected was the end of the lake. 
We then marched off 2 or 3 miles from the lake, and went 
by a point of compass 8 miles to the end of the lake and 
encamped. This lake is 40 miles in length and from 2 to 5 
miles in width, and runs nearly No. and So. parallel to the 
Seneca lake which is from 8 to 10 miles distant. 

Se})t. 24. — Marched at sunrise, proceeded 8 miles on the 
high land and came to an old path which led us to 2 huts 
and some cornfields, which we burnt. I then sent several 
parties in different directions to look for a large town that 
I had been informed was not many mijes from the end of 
the lake. The parties found 10 or 12 scattering houses and 
a number of large cornfields on and near the stream that 
falls into the lake. After burning several fields of corn and 
houses they discovered the town, 3 miles from the lake, on 
the above mentioned stream, which contained 25 houses and 
is called Coreorgonek''^ and is the capital of a small nation or 

ISO Taghanic Point, formerly known as Goodwin's Point. The banlt of the lalie 
both north and soutli of this, is very much cut up with ravines, and the lake shore is too 
rocky and precipitous for an Indian path. For several miles the trail was back two miles 
from the lake, along the heads of the ravines, probably passing through Hayt's corners 
and Ovid Centre. From this hi^h ground the lake appears to end at Taghanic Point. 

161 CoREOROONEL, Called De-ho-riss-kanadia by George Grant, was located on the 
west side of Cayuga inlet, about three miles from the end of the lake, and two miles 
south of Ithaca. The main village was on a high ground south of the school-house 
on the farm of James Fleming, nearly opposite Buttermilk Falls. Several skele- 
tons have been exhumed here within a few years, and the usual variety of relics 
found, such as hatchets, wampum, beads, &c. A solitary apple-tree still remaine, a 
fit memento to represent the race by which it was planted. W^hen first known to the 
whites there were five boles starting from the ground, but these are now reduced to two, 
and are probably shoots from the original tree cut down or girdled by Dearborn. The 
town was destroyed September 24, 1779. At this time it contained twenty-five houses 
besides ten or twelve scattered between the main village and the lake. Colonel Butler 
after passing up on the east side of Cayuga Lake halted here on the 25th, and found 
Rev. Dr. Kirkland's horse in the vicinity of the smoking ruins. 

A peculiar interest is attached to this locality and village, from the fact that here the 
representatives of a once powerful people, sought to preserve for a brief period, the last 



80 dearborn's journal. 

tribe. My party was em|)Ioyed from 9 till sunset in destroy- 
ing the town and corn. I expected to have met Col. Butler 
with liis party at this town. 

Sept. 25. — Marched at sunrise for Catherine's Town, where 
I was ordered to join the main army. Proceeded a due west 

remaining spark of a council fire that from time immemoriiil had burned brilliantly in 
the presence of assembled nations, numbering their warriors by thousands. They were 
_ called by the Iroquois Toderichroones, one of the tribes known to the English as Ca- 
tawbas, sometimes called Saponies. They formerly resided between the Potomac and 
Roanoke rivers, cast of the Alleghanies. A most inveterate hostile feeling existed be- 
tween them and the Iroquois, which reached back to near the middle of the seventeenth 
century. A peace was arranged as early as 1685, through negotiations with the govern- 
ment of Virginia, and again what was expected to be a " lasting peace " and Arm alli- 
ance, was concluded in 1714, but in the night after the close of the council, the Iroquois 
deputies, while reposing in fancied security were treacherously murdered while asleep. 
This aroused the Iroquois to vengeance, and the war was renewed with unexampled fe- 
rocity, with a determination to totally extirpate the base, faithless and treacherous peo- 
ple. In 1717 through the intercession of Governor Hunter, at the request of Governor 
Spottswood of Virginia, a truce was arranged, and in 1723 delegates from the Five Na- 
tions met Governor Spottswood at Albany to conclude what was to be an " everlasting 
peace," in which the Iroquois .bound themselves not to cross the Potomac or go over 
the Alleghanies, without a passport from the Governor of New York, Governor Spotts- 
wood engaging that the tribes in his locality should not pass to the north or west of same 
lines. The tribes mentioned by the Governor were the " Nottoways, Meherins, Nan- 
SEMOXDs, Pamunkeys, Chicohominys, and the Christanna Indians whom you call 
ToDERicHROONES," and Others— in all, ten nations. This council was conducted with 
great formality, and valuable presents were presented, among which were a "j^/ie coro- 
net '' and a ''gold horse shoe " with uxi inscription. In 1738 they were again at war, and 
in 1742 at peace. In 1751 Governor Clinton says "the Governor of South Carolina sent six 
chiefs of the Catawbas, to make peace with the Five Nations," and says that " they had 
been at war as long as any one in this country can remember." In 1753 Sir William 
Johnson mentions the fact that the Cayugas " aie about to strengthen their castle hy tak- 
ing in, the Tedarighroones." In the same year they are mentioned as attending a con- 
ference at Mt. Johnson and are described as "one of the nine confederate nations." 
The town is indicated at the head of Cayuga lake on the Guy Johnson map of 1771, in 
the same position where it was found by Colonel Dearborn in 1779, under the name of 
Todevighrono, the name of the people. In 1750 Zeisberger, the Moravian missionary, 
passed through this valley while on his way to visit the Cayugas, but makes no mention 
of an Indian village in the vicinity. Undoubtedly they settled there in the summer of 
1753. Their cleared fields were found on the present site of Ithaca on the first settle- 
ment of the countrj' by the whites and were the first lands occupied in the county. The 
town is indicated bat not named on the map of Mr. Lodge, the surveyor who accom- 
panied Colonel Butler's detachment. To stand on the identical spot from which this 
people sunk into obliviDU, appeared like standing on the grave of a nation. Their his- 
tory, the beginning of which extends far back into the unknown and unattainable, ends 
where that of civilization begins, and adds another name to the long list of extinguished 
nationalities that preceded us in sovereignty. Here their council fire, fanned by the last 
expiring breath of a once brave and numerous people, was extinguished forever. 



dearborn's journal. 81 

course over a very rough, mountainous (.-ountry 18 miles, 
and at -1 o'clock reached the town, but the army was gone 
forward. Advanced 6 miles in what is called the Bear 
Swamp and encamped. 

Sept. 26. — Marched at sunrise and at 12 o'clock joined the 
main array at Kanawalahola which is 4 miles from where we 
fought the enemy on the 29th of August. The army had a 
day of rejoicing here in consequence from the news of Spain. 

Sept. 27. — Some detachments were sent up the Teago river 
to destroy such houses and corn fields as they might find. 

Sept. 28. — The same parties that were sent out yesterday 
were sent again further up the river to destroy a Tory settle- 
ment which was discovered yesterday, and a large detach- 
ment was sent off to complete the destruction of the corn, 
&c., at and about New Town. At 12 o'clock Col. Butler 
and his party arrived in Camp. In their route round the 
lake they destroyed several towns and a vast quantity of 
corn. 



EECAPITULATIOK 



Indian Towns Destroyed in Sullivan's 
Campaign, 1779. 

1. • Newtychanning, an Indian town of about 20 houses, 
located on the west side of the Susquehanna, near North 
Towanda, Bradford County, Pa. Destroyed by Col. Proctor, 
Aug. 8, 1779. See note 60. 

2. Old Chemung, an Indian town partially abandoned, 
located on the north bank of Chemung river, half a mile 
above present Chemung village. Destroyed Aug. 13, 1779. 
See note 6(y. 

3. New Chemung, an Indian town of fifty or sixty houses, 
located on the left bank of the Chemung river, three miles 
above the present village of Chemung, in Chemung County. 
Destroyed Aug. 13, 1779. See note 66. 

4. Newtown, an Indian town of about 20 houses, located 
on the north bank of Chemung river, five miles below Elmira. 
It gave the name to the battle fought near it Aug. 29, 1779. 
Destroyed August 31, 1779. See note 71. 

5. A village of 20 to 30 new houses, located on both sides 
of Baldwin's creek, about a mile and a half from Chemung 
river, at the exact point where Cen. Poor commenced the 
ascent of the hill. Destroyed Aug. 29, 1779. See note 74. 

6. A small village on Baldwin's creek, near the works of 
the enemy, at Newtown, the timbers of which were used in 
the construction of the fortifications. See note 74. 



RECAPITULA.TION. 83 

7. A small village on Seely creek, near present Southport, 
south of Elmira. D.estroyed Aug. 30, 1779. See note 74. 

8. Albout, a Scotch, torj settlement on the east side the 
Unadilla, about five miles above Unadilla. Burned August 
12, 1779, by Gen. Clinton. See note 129. 

9. Shawhiangto, a small Tuscarora town, four miles be- 
low Onoquago, of ten or twelve houses, located on the west 
side of the Susquehanna, near present Windsor, in Broome 
County. Burned August 17, 1779, by Gen. Clinton. See 
note 134 

10. Ingaren, a Tuscarora town of five or six houses, 
sometimes called Tuscarora, at Great Bend, Susquehanna 
count}', Penn. Destroyed Aug. 17, 1779, by Gen. Clinton. 
See note 135. 

11. Otsiningo or Chenango,' an important Indian town 
abandoned and destroyed by the Indians in the winter of 
1778-9, located four miles north of Binghamton in Broome 
County. See note 136. 

12. Choconut, or ChugntUt, an important Indian town of 
fifty or sixty houses mostly on the south side of the Susque- 
hanna river, at the mouth of Big Choconut creek, in Broome 
County. Destroyed by Gen. Poor Aug. 19, 1779. See note 
137. 

13. OWAGEA, an Indian town of about twenty houses, on 
Owego creek, about a mile from the Susquehanna river, in 
the north part of present Owego, — was a small hamlet, also 
near the river. Destroyed August 19, 1779. See note 138. 

1-1. Manckatawangum, or Bed Bank, — an Indian town 
on the south side of the Susquehanna river, neariy opposite 
the present village of Barton, in Tioga county, — near Fitz- 
gerald's Farm, according to Beatty. See note 139. 



84 RECAPITULATION. 

General Sullivan under date of Aug. 30tb, says: "The 
number of Indian towns destro3^ed since the commencement 
of the expedition, including tliose burnt by General Clinton 
previous to the junction, is, I think, fourteen, some of them 
considerable, others inconsiderable.'' 

15. MiDDLETOWN, an Indian hamlet of eight houses, lo- 
cated on the north bank of Chemung river, between New- 
town and present Elmira. Destroyed Aug. 31, 1779. See 
note 77. 

16. Kanawlohalla or Canaioeola, on the site of pres- 
ent Elmira in Chemung count}^ George Grant says it con- 
tained twenty honses. This was the site of Fort Keid. De- 
stro3^ed while the army was on the march, August 81, 1779. 
See note 77. 

17. Big Flats, on the north bank of Chemung river, 
eight miles above present Elmira. An early French map 
calls a village at this point Eunonvea. Destroyed by a de- 
tachment under Col. Dayton Aug. 31, 1779^. See note 77. 

18. Sheoquaga, or Catharine's Town, an Indian village of 
thirty houses, located on the site of present Havana in Schuy- 
ler County. Destroyed Sept. 2, 1779. See note 78. 

19. Peach Orchard, an Indian town of an unknown 
name on the site of present Peach Orchard, ten miles north 
of Havana, on east shore of Seneca lake. Destroyed Sept. 
3, 1779. See note 79. 

20. CoNDAWHAW, a small Indian town on the east shore 
of Seneca lake, at present site of North Hector, so called by 
Luke Swetland in 1778. Destroyed Sept. 4, 1779. See note 
80. 

21. KendatA, or Appletown, located on lot 79, Eomulus, 
on the east side of Seneca lake. It contained about twenty 
houses. Destroyed Sept. 6, 1779. See note 81. 



EECAPITULATIOK 85 

22. Butler's Buildings, so called, consisting of a few- 
buildings, located near present canal bridge in the village of 
Geneva. Destroyed while on the march Sept. 7, 1779. See 
note 84. 

23. Kanadaseaga, the grand vidage, and capital of the 
Senecas, located one and a half miles north-west of present 
Geneva. It contained about sixty well built houses. De- 
stroyed Sept. 9, 1779. See note 8-1. 

21. GoTHSEUNGQUEAN or Shenaiiwaga^ a village of twen- 
ty houses located on both sides of Kershong creelc, near 
the west shore of Seneca lake, seven miles south of Geneva. 
Destroyed by a detachment under Major Parr, Sept. 8, 1779. 
See note 84. 

25. Kanaxdaigua, an Indian town of twenty-three houses, 
located about a mile from the lake, in west part of present 
village of Canandaigua. Destroyed Sept. 10, 1779. See 
note 86. 

26. HanneyAye, an Indian town of twenty houses, loca- 
ted at foot of Honeoye lake, east of the outlet. One house 
w^as occupied as a fort b}^ Capt. Cummings. Destroyed Sept. 
11, 1779. See note 87. 

27. Kanaghsaws, also called Adjuioa, an Indian town 
of eighteen houses located three-fourths of a mile south-east 
of the head of Conesus lake on the farm of Dr. McMillen. 
Destroyed September 13, 1779. See note 89. 

28. Gathtsegwarohare or Cassawauloughly, an impor- 
tant Indian town of twenty-five houses, located on the 
east side of Canaseraga creek, about two miles from its con- 
fluence with the Genesee, at the "Hej-mitage," formerly owned 
by Judge Caroll. Destroyed Sept. 14, 1779. See note 93. 

29. Chenandoanes or Great Oenesee Castle^ sometimes 
called Little Beard's Town, — contained one hundred and 



86 RECAPITULATION. 

twenty-eiglit houses, located on the west side of Grenesee 
river, mostly on the north side of Beard's creek, north-east 
of Cuylerville. Destroyed Se])t. 15, 1779. See note 95. 

Towns Destroyed by Lieut. Col. Butler. 

30. ScAWYACE, or Long Falls, an important Indian town 
on the north bank of the Seneca river on present site of 
Waterloo, in Seneca Coun,ty, — was partially destroyed by a 
volunteer force under Col. Harper, Sept. 8, 1779, — destruction 
completed Sept. 21, by Major Scott, of Colonel Butler's de- 
tachment. See note 140. 

31. Choharo, a hamlet of two houses at the foot of Cayuga 
lake, where Colonel Butler's detachment forded the river. 
This was the ancient Tichero of the Jesuit Relations. De- 
stroyed Sept. 21, by Colonel Butler. See note 142. 

32. Gewauga, a small hamlet located on the east side of 
Cayuga lake, on the site of present Union Springs in Cay- 
uga Count3\ Destroyed Sept. 22, 1779. See note 141. 

33. GoiOGOUEN, of the Jesuit Eelations, made up of three 
separate towns, viz : 

(1). Cayuga Castle, containing fifteen very large houses built of squared logs, located 
near the south line of the town of Springport in Cajiiga County, on the north bank of 
Great Gully Brook, from one to two miles from the lake. See note 143. 

(2). East Catuga, Olb Town, containing thirteen houses, located in the south-east 
corner of the town of Springport, from three to four miles from Cayuga lake. A site 
in the south-west corner of Fleming, was probably a site of this clan. Destroyed Sept. 
22. See note 145. 

(3). Upper Catuga, containing fourteen large houses, located near the north line of 
the town of Ledyard in Cayuga County, on the south bank of Great Gully Brook, from 
one to two miles from Cayuga Lake. Destroyed Sept. 22. See note 144. 

George Grant describes the three preceding towns as one town containing fifty houses, 
.with many scattering towns within two or three miles. Gen. Sullivan's official report 
says that " Colonel Butler destroyed five principal towns and a number of scattering 
houses, — the whole making about one hundred in number." Capt. Lodge's Map desig- 
nates three towns by name. 

34. Chonodote or Peach Tree Town, also called Chandot, a 
town containing fourteen houses, located on the site of pres- 



EECAPITULATION. 87 

ent Aurora, in Cc\yuga County. This town contained 1500 
jjeach trees. Destroyed Sept. 2-Jl:tli by tlie detacliment un- 
der Col. William Butler. See note 116. 

Towns Destroyed by Lieut. Col. Dearborn. 

35. A small handet of three houses, on the Shankwiller 
farm, in town of Fayette, Seneca County, four miles from 
Cayuga lake. Destro3^ed by Colonel Dearborn Sept. 21. 
See note 155. 

36. A small town of ten buildings on the west shore of 
Cayuga lake, one mile north of Canoga Creek. Destroyed 
by Col. Dearborn's detachment Sept. 21, 1779. See note 156. 

37. Skanxayutexate, an Indian village of ten houses, 
located on the south bank of Canoga creek, on the west shore 
of Cayuga lake, a half mile north-east of Canoga village in 
Seneca County. Destroyed by Lieut. Col. Dearborn Sept. 
21, 1779. See note 157. 

38. Newtown, an Indian village of nine houses, located 
one mile south-east of village of Canoga, on the west shore 
of Cayuga lake, a mile south of Skannayutenate. Destroyed 
Sept. 21, 1779 by Lieut. Col. Dearborn. See note 158. 

39. Swahyawana, an Indian town located on the west 
shore of Cayuga lake, on the farm of Edward E. Dean, in 
the north-east corner of the town of Eomulus in Seneca 
County. Destroyed Sept. 22, 1779, by Lieut, Col. Henry 
Dearborn. See note 159. 

40. CoREORGONEL, an important Indian town of twenty- 
five houses, located on the west side of Cayuga inlet, about 
two miles south of Ithaca, and three miles from the head of 
Cuvuga lake. It appear^ as Todevighrono, the name of the 
tribe on the Gay Johnson Map of 1771. Destroyed by the 
detachment under Lieut. Col. Dearborn Sept. 2-1, 1779. See 
note 161. 



LIST OF JOURNALS. 



The following Journals are those of officers actively en- 
gaged in Sullivan's campaign : 

L — Anonymous. From June 18 to Sept. 13, 1779. 
Printed in Hill's New Hampshire Patriot, at Portsmouth, 
September 16, 18-13. An imperfect copy of Norris' Journal, 
with several omissions, and many important errors. 

IT. — Barton, William, Lieutenant in the Jersey Brig- 
ade. From June 8 to October 9, 1779. Published in the 
Transactions of the New Jersey Historical Society, Vol. II, 
1846-7, p. 22. 

III. — Beatty, Erkuries, Lieutenant in the Fourth Penn- 
sylvania Regiment. From June 11 to October 22, 1779, in 
Sullivan's Campaign. Also from April 6 to April 29 of 
same year in tlie campaign against the Onondagas. The 
original manuscript in the Archives of the New York His- 
torical Society. Has never been published. 

TV. — Blake, Thomas, Lieutenant in Second New Hamp. 
shire Regiment. From May 19 to October 15, 1779. Pub- 
lished in Ridder's History of the First New Hampshire Reg- 
iment. 

Y. — Campfield, Jabez, Surgeon in Spencer's Fifth New 
Jersey Regiment. From May 23 to October 2, 1779. Pub- 
lished in the Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical So- 
ciety 1873, pp. 115 to 136, from the original presented to the 
Society by Edmund D. Halsey. 



LIST OF JOUEXALS. 89 

YI. — Dearborx, Henry, Lieutenant Colonel commanding 
the Third New Hampshire Regiment. From June 16 to Octo- 
ber 15, 1779 ; transcribed from the original by his son, General 
Henry A. S. Dearborn. This copy in charge of Colonel C. G. 
Thornton, of Madison, Wisconsin, executor of the Dearborn 
estate. The original manuscript of Henry Dearborn is in 
the hands of John S. Fogg, Esq., of Boston, Mass. 

A^II. — Elmer, Ebenezer, Surgeon in Second New Jersey 
Regiment. From June 18 to August 1-1, 1779. The origi- 
nal manuscript in the Archives of the New Jersey Historical 
Society. Extracts were published in the Transactions of the 
Society in 1846-7. 

YIII. — Fellows, Moses, Sergeaiit in the Third New 
Hampshire Regiment. From July 22 to September 20, 
1779. The original in possession of A. Tiffany Norton, Esq., 
of Lima, N. Y. 

IX. — GooKiN, Daniel, Ensign in Second New Hamp- 
shire Regiment. Fi'om May 4 to September 5, 1779. Pub- 
lished in the New England Hist, and Gen'l Register for 
Januar}^ 1862. 

X.— Grant, George, Sergeant Major in the Third New 
Jersey Regiment. From May 17 to November 3, 1779. 
Published in Hazard's Register (Pa.) Yol. l-l, pp. 72-70. 

XL — Grant, Thomas, appears from the Journal to have 
been one of the surveying party under Captain Lodge, who 
accompanied the army from Easton and with chain and com- 
pass, surveyed the entire route to the Genesee river. From 
July 31 to September 25, 1779. Published in the Historical 
Magazine for August and September, 1862. 

XII. — Hardenbergh, John L., Lieutenant in Colonel 
Yan Cortlandt's Second New York Regiment. From Mav 
1 to October 23, 1779. The original manuscript in posses- 



90 LIST OF JOUIIXALS. 

sion of the Hardenbergh family in Auburn. Publislied by 
the Cajuga County Historical Societ}^, 1879. 

XIII. — HuBLEY, Adam, Colonel of the Eleventh Penn- 
sylvania Regiment. From July 31 to October 7, 1779. 
Published in Miners History of Wyoming. Appendix, 
1845. The original contained several illustrations, and maps 
of encampments, not in the published copy. 

XIV. — Jenkins, John, Lieutenant and guide in the ex- 
pedition. From June 5, 1778, to March 17, 1781. ' The 
original manuscript in the hands of his grandson, Hon. 
Steuben Jenkins, of Wvoming, Pa. It has never been pub- 
lished. 

XV. — LiVERMORE, Daniel, Captain in the Third New 
Hampshire Regiment. From May 17 to December 7, 1779. 
Published in the New Hampshire Historical Collections, 
Vol. VI, pp. ^08-335. 

XVI. — Machin, Thomas, Captain in Col. John Lamb's 
Second Regiment (N. Y.) Artillery. From April 19 to 23, 
1779, in Colonel VanSchaick's expedition against the Onon- 
dagas. Published in the Magazine of American History, 
November, 1879. Communicated by F, H. Roof. 

XVII. — NuKERCK, Charles, Lieutenant and Captain in 
Colonel Van Cortlandt's Second New York Regiment. From 
May 1, 1779, to December 11, 1780. Captain (afterward 
Colonel) Nukerck was born in Hurley, Ulster County, New 
York. In 1776 he was serving as Second Lieutenant in 
Colonel Ritzema's 3d New York Regiment, organized to gar- 
rison the forts southward of Crown Point. Under the call 
of September 16. 1776, he entered the Second New York 
Regiment to serve during the war^ and continued with that 
regiment as Lieutenant and Captain untd the consolidation 
of the five New York regiments into two in December, 1780, 



LIST OF JOURNALS. 91 

when he was assigned to the class of deranged officei's, and 
conthiued in service to tlie close of tlie war. He afterward 
settled at Palatine Chnrch, in the Mohawk Valley, where he 
died greatly respected in November, 1822. 

This Journal Uiis had a somewhat interesting liistorj-. A portion of it appeared in 1831 
in Campbell's Annals of Trj-on County, as " extracts from the manuscript Journal of an 
officer," but without giving the author's name. Extracts have also appeared from time 
to time in the writings of the late Thomas Maxwell of Elmira, as the Journal of Colonel 
Gansevoort. In Colonel Stone's Life of Brant, 1838, Introduction p. xxiii, he saj's " the 
author has likewise been favored with the manuscript diary of the venerable Captain 
Theodosius Fowler of this city, who was an active officer durini; the whole campaign. In 
addition to the valuable memoranda contained in this diary, Capt. Fowler has preserved 
a drawing of the Order of March * * * and a plan of the great battle fought at Neivtoivn, 
both of which drawings have been engraved, and will be found in the Appendix." In 
the body of the work he incorporates the text as found in Campbell's Annals, including 
several interpolations from Seaver's Life of Mary Jemison, which appear in the Annals as 
quoted, but in Colonel Stone's work us part of the original Journal. At page 18, Vol. 
II. appears the " Order of March " and "Order of Battle," the latter having no refer- 
ence whatever to the battle of Newtown, it being nothing more than the general order 
of battle prescribed at the beginning of the campaign. After the death of Colonel Stone, 
the original manuscript fell into the hands of that distinguished scholar. Dr. Lyman C . 
Draper, Secretary of Wisconsin Historical Society, who purchased it at the sale in a 
bound volume of manuscripts. In June, 1879, he placed it in my hands for exam- 
ination and directed my attention to the fact, of its unquestionable identity with the 
many fragments ascribed to Captain Fowler and others. The Journal is substantially 
a history of the movements of the Second regiment from the date of the first entry to 
the time of the consolidation in 17sO, when it closes. It contains abundant evidence to 
warrant the conclui^ion that it must have been written by an officer of that regiment. 
This appears effectually to dispose of the claims of the supposed authorship of Captain 
Fowler, as he was made Captain of the First New York June 21, 1778, and continued in 
service with that regiment until the consolidation 1780, when he was assigned to the 
new New York Second, and continued in that position to the close of the war. It is 
highly probable that Captain Fowler was on duty with his regiment, which remained to 
guard the Mohawk Valley during Sullivan's campaign, and consequently could not have 
participated in the westward march, and if the author of a Journal it certainly cannot 
be the one in question, which beyond any doubt was written by an officer actively en- 
gaged in the main expedition. A careful examination of the manuscript disclosed the 
fact that unmistakably it is the hand writing of Captain Nukerck, and presumably his 
Journal. On being advised of this fact Dr. Draper addressed a note to Mrs. Miller, 'of 
Englewood, N. J., a gr.anddaughter of Captain Nukerck, who answered "that she re- 
membered distinctly, that her father loaned to Mr. Campbell the Diary of her grand- 
father relating to Sullivan's Campaign, and that afterward it was loaned to an agent of 
Colonel Stone, who failed to return it." The manuscript is in an excellent stale of pres- 
ervation, every word from beginning to end being plain and distinct, especially the proper 
names. It contains several maps indicating the line of march and encampments, and at 
the end a single leaf is missing, probably the order of march and order of battle, men- 
tioned by Colonel Stone. 



92 LIST OF JOURNALS. 

XVIII. —NoRRis, James, Captain in the Third New 
Hampshire Regiment, From June 18 to October 25, 1779. 
Original manuscript in the Archives of the Buffalo Histori- 
cal Society, K Y. Published in July, 1879, Vol. I, No. 7, 
of the Publications of that Society, by Bigelow Brothers, 
Buffalo, K Y. 

XIX. — Rogers, William, D. D., Chaplain in Hand's 
Brigade. From June 15 to A.ugust 29, 1779. Published 
with notes and Biography, No. 7 of the Rhode Island His- 
torical Tracts by Sidney S. Rider, Providence, R. I., 1879. 

XX. — Rogers, William, Quartermaster Sergeant in Mal- 
com's N. Y. Regiment in 1777, but in 1779 appears to liave 
belonged to the Second New Yorlc. From April 5 to Sep- 
tember 14, 1779, contains names of places, dates, and dis- 
tances. The original manuscript in the hands of B. L. Rog- 
ers, Newark, N. J. 

XXI. — Shute. Samuel Moore, Lieutenant in Second 
New Jersey Regiment. From May 29 to November 9, 1779. 
The original manuscript in possession of William Shute, of 
Doylestown, Pa. 

XXII. — Van Hovenberg, Rudolph, Lieutenant in Col- 
onel Du Bois' Fifth New York Regiment. From June 16, 
1779, to November 24, 1780. He accompanied Greneral 
Chnton down the Susquehanna. Has never been published. 

XXIII. — Webb, Nathaniel, an officer in the Second 
New York Regiment. His son. Dr. Ezekiel Webb, had tlie 
original in September, 1855, at which time a part was pub- 
lished in the Elmira Daily Republican. 

[The following Journals were once in existence, but dili- 
gent inquiry has failed to bring them to light :] 

XXIV. — Dean, Judge James, the well known interpreter, 
and first Judge of Herkimer County, N. Y. 



LIST OF JOURNALS. 93 

XXV. — Pierce, William, Captain in Colonel Harrison's 
Regiment of artillery, First A. D. C. to General Sullivan. 

XXVI. — Hoops, Adam, Major, Third A. D. C. to General 
Sullivan. "The facts concerning Van Campen and Boyd 
are taken from a part of a copy of my journal which had 
been copied from that of Major William Pierce." — Letter 
Sept. 18, 1841, p. 180 Sullivan's Campaign. 

XXVII. — Prince, Kimball, Sergeant Major in the Artil- 
lerj^ His diary was in possession of his son Frederick 
Prince as late as 1822, but was then stolen from a trunk 
during the ravages of the yellow fever in Xew York City. 

XXVIII. — Newman Referred to in Miner's History 

of W3"oming. Supposed to have been destroyed by fire in 
the office of the Record of the Times at Wilkesbarre, Pa., 
April 9, 1869. 

[The following narratives have been written by parties ac- 
tively engaged in the campaign. Some are valuable, others 
are untrustworthy, and well calculated to mislead :] 

XXIX. — Davis, Nathan. Private in the First New 
Hampshire Regiment Published in the Historical IVfaga- 
zine, April, 1868, p. 198. 

XXX. — Gano, Rev. John, Chaplain in Clinton's Brigade. 
Published in the Historical Magazine, November, 18()1, p. 
330. 

XXXI. — Salmon, John. Published in Seaver's Life of 
Mary Jemison. 

XXXII. — Van Campen, Moses. Appears in a memo- 
rial to Congress for a pension. 

XXXIII. — Van Cortlandt, Philip, Colonel command-" 
ing Second New York Regiment. Autobiography Avritten 



94 LIST OF JOURNALS. 

in 1825. Piiblisbed iu full in Magazine of American His- 
tory, May, 1878. 

XXXIV.— Maxwell, Major. Published in Vol. VII of 
the Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, p. 97. 

XXXV. — Lodge, Capt. Benja:min was in charge of a par- 
ty that accompanied the army from Easton, and with compass 
and chain surveyed the entire route to the Genesee river. 
On the return march, commencing at Kanadaseaga, the party 
aqcompanied Colonel Butler and made a like survey along 
the east side of Cayuga Lake, connecting with the main line 
near present Horseheads. But one section of the map has 
been found, and that was among the papers of Captain 
Machin, an artillery ofhcer. The original is now in the 
hands of J. R Symms, Esq., of Fort Plain, N. Y. Several 
parties have photographic copies. This section extends 
north of Tioga Point and west as far as Kanadaseaga. 

In addition to the preceding, is the correspondence and 
instructions of General Washington ; General Sullivan's Of- 
ficial Reports; many valuable letters from General James 
Clinton ; and undoubtedly many journals will be added to 
those alread}^ known, now that the attention of the public 
has been directed to the revolutionary period, and especially 
to the Campaign of 1779. 



CAYUGA COUNTY 



Historical Society 



■\ 



COLLECTIONS 



Number Two. 



COLLECTIONS 



OF 



CAYUGA COUNTY 



Historical Society 



AUBURN, N. Y. 



Number Two. 



1882. 



FOURTH AND FIFTH 



ANNUAL ADDRESSES 



Historical Sketch of priends 



IN CAYUGA COUNrV, N. Y. 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUPPLEMENT. 



AUBURN, N. Y. 
1882. 



TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES. 
Number " ' ' 



KNAPP & PECK, 

Book, Job and Commeicial Printers, 

AuBUiq^, I^. Y. 



! ^ 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 
Fourth Annual Address, - 9 

By Chakles Hawley. 

Fifth Annual Address, - - 29 

By Chari.es Hawley. 

Historical Sketch ok Friends in Cayuga County, N. Y., 

WITH Appendix, - - - - 49 

By Emily Howland. 

Inventors and Inventions of Cayuga County, N. Y., - - 93 

By Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr. 

With Illustrations by Frank R. Rathhun. 

Supplement to Inventors and Inventions, etc., - - - 183 
By David M. Osborne. 



OFFICERS OF CAYUGA COUNTY 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 1882. 



President, 

CHARLES HAWLEY, D. D. 

Vice President, 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

_^ Corresponding Secrcta7y, 

BENJAMIN B. SNOW. 

Recording Secretary, 
NELSON B. ELDRED. 

Treasure!', 

DAVID M. DUNNING. 

Librarian and Custodian, 

DENNIS R. ALWARD. 

Trustees : 

JOSIAH LeTCHWORTII, JoHN H. OsnrjRNK, 

I.EWis E. Lyon, Benjamin B. Snow, 

David M. Dunning, Lewis E. Carpenter, 

James D. Button, M. D. 

Cojumittee on Papers and Addresses : 
JosiAH Letchworth, John H. Osi«)rne, 

Lewis E. Lyon. Byron C. Smith, 

Frederick I. Allen. 

Executive Committee : 
Benjamin B. Snow, Josiah Letchworth, 

John H. Osborne. 

I Finance Committee : 

David M. Dunning, Josiah Letchworth, 

Lewis E. Carpenter. 

Alemboship Committee : 

James D. Button, M. D., Benjamin B. Snow, 

Lewis E. Lyon. 



ROOMS OF THE SOCIETY : 
Nos. 1 I & 12 Seward Blook, Auburn, N. Y. 



FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS, 

/ 

BY CHARLES HAWLEY, D. D. 



February 8th, i88i. 



ADDRESS. 



It is to History, in regard to dignity and authority, that Lord 
Bacon assigns the pre-eminent place among human writings. 
"For, to its fidelity are intrusted the examples of our ances- 
tors; the vicissitudes of things; the foundations of civil ])ol- 
ic\' and the name and reputation of men." "But," he adds, 
" the dilficulty is no less than the dignity. For to cprry the 
mind in writing into the past and bring it into sympathy 
with antiquity ; diligently to exaniine ; freel}^ and faithfull}' 
to report, and by the light of words to place, as it were, be 
fore the eyes, the revolutions of time ; the characters of per- 
sons ; the courses and currents of actions, is a task of great 
labor and judgment, rather because in ancient transactions 
the truth is difficult to ascertain, and in modern, it is danger- 
ous to tell." 

All that is here said of the dignity and difficulty attend- 
ing historical memoirs, applies with force to the purposes of 
our organization ; for it is only as local history is ample 
and accurate that the material exists, to give general history 
either dignity or value. It is, moreover, no easj^ task, as I 
hardly need remind you, to keep up a vigorous historical so- 
ciety, especiall}^ in a community so youthful, comparatively, 
as our own — not yet having completed its first century. We 
may have been too busy making histor}^ to think much of 
collecting its annals, and too near, perhaps, the generation 
that opened for us through the wilderness the path of civili- 
zation, fully to appreciate their work. 



10 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

At the best, however, we can hardly expect any thing 
like popular enthusiasm in the slow and patient endeavor to 
garner the materials of history. We innst still be content 
with the active enlistment of the comparatively ie\\\ whose 
tastes lead them in this direction, or who place some proper 
estimate upon the future value of such labors. The number 
possessed with the true historic spirit, is small, and they are 
fewer still 'vho have both the inclination and the means, 
with the leisure, to gratify it, I do not know that we have 
even one among our forty or fifty members, who ranks as an 
enthusiast in such matters ; while it is not too much to say 
that the body of our membership is in hearty and growing 
sympathy with the objects which the Society has in charge. 
With our present numbers we have been able thus far, to 
maintain a healthy, organization, and have much to show for 
our labors. But in the growing demands of the work, we 
would be much encouraged and helped by larger co-operation 
on the part of our citizens, who have with us a common in- 
terest in what we aim to accomplish. We need, perhaps, 
to be less modest in urging our claims as a Society upon the 
public favor, and more diligent in personal solicitation, to 
increase our membership. These claims are easily recog- 
nized. The work entrusted to the Society must commend 
itself to every intelligent citizen throughout the County. 
Whatever is valuable in our various enterprises, religious, 
social or industrial, and whatever of benefit has accrued from 
them, it is the province of this Society to rescue from obliv- 
ion, and embalm in the memories and gratitude of men. 
What has thus been worth doing, is worthy such preserva- 
tion, and what was not so well worth doing— all of fact and inci- 
dent which reveal the weaker side of human nature and even 
the worst side of human life — alike serves the purposes of im- 
partial history. There may be wisdom as well as warning 
to be gathered from the errors and jnistakes of those who 



FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 11 

have preceded us. History is a good tonic for that morbid 
despondency which despairs of the times and laments the 
"good old days," never to return. Its atmosphere is healthy 
and bracing ; and though it disrobe the past of the enchant- 
ment which distance of time no less than of space, lends to 
the view, it sei'v^es also to present the real and the true in 
forms most instructive and striking. It is this large teaching 
of human experience gathered from^the widest fields of hu- 
man action, that is the province of history ; and he who 
studies its lessons most devoutly, is best furnished to act well 
his |)urt in all that concerns present duty. 

As for our own immediate field of incjairy as a Society, 
the more we work it, the richer we find it in historic wealth. 
By means of researclies made within the last three or four 
years, and mainlv under the auspices of the Society, we have 
come into larger knowledge of the people who held this 
ground for centuries preceding its settlement by the white 
man, and have traced the presence among them of the first 
Europeans who ever trod this soil ; the object and various 
motives which impelled the adventurers, their heroism and. 
their failure, and have become familiar with some of the 
scenes of one of the great dramas of history, enacted within 
the limits of oar own county, along its lakes, which are still 
the pride and beauty of the region, and. by the very stream 
that flows through and has created our city, whose banks 
resound with the industries which have rendered Auburn 
famous in distant parts of the world, for invention and intelli- 
gent enterprise. 

It would appear, at first thought, that the early settlement 
of a region like this could have had little in common with 
its present condition. We look back almost a hundred 
years, since a new civilization took possession of this terri- 
tory. The aboriginal race had hardly been dispossessed of the 
soil, when single families without concert, only a common 



12 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

impulse to better their condition, began to find their way 
thither from the Eastern States and the Eastern portion of 
this State ; and soon neighborhoods are formed and com- 
pacted, followed by villages as centers of trade and the arts 
of life ; and these, where fortunately located with facilities for 
growth, becoming prosperous cities, until the whole scene 
changes from semi-barbarous life to cultured and progressive 
society. 

The difference in some aspects is great. There is an 
indescribable fascination at this distance of time in the story 
of pioneer life, often as it may be rehearsed. Its dangers, 
privations and hardships over against the security and 
comfort and plenty in which we dwell, invest it with a 
I'omantic, often heroic interest. The contrast it presents to 
all modern improvement in the face of the country ; in 
dwellings, churches, public buildings, stores, manufactories 
and whole social and industrial economy, is very wide. But 
in all that makes up the ground work of life, they stood on 
the same footing on which we stand to-day. They were as 
happy, as contented, and as successful, in their straitened con- 
ditions, as are the people who succeed them. That they were 
wiser or more virtuous, is not to be claimed. The vague 
impression sometimes cherished of the superior goodness of a 
past generation, is one whicb a closer knowledge often dissi- 
pates, and we learn that human nature retains its character- 
istics amid all external changes. The more we know of what 
has been, the more pertinent the advice of the wise man : "Say 
not then, what is the cause that the former days are better than 
these ; for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this." The 
people of former days lived and acted in their circumstances, 
very much like the people of the present day. If they appear 
to have practiced the more homely and frugal virtues to our 
disparagement, I am disjjosed to think it was from necessity 
rather than choice. They were as extravagant in all direc- 



FOUHTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 13 

tions as their means would permit. They sought jileasure 
and personal gratification by the methods open to them. 
Tliey were no moi'e temperate or sell -denying, no more strict 
in their morals or piety than the same classes of persons now. 
They were open to aspersions among themselves for their pride 
and ostentation and factitious social distinctions, quite like 
those to which we are accustomed. 

A curious instance of this I find in a pamphlet which 
recently fell into my hands, printed by an indignant citizen 
of Auburn in the year 1828, some fiftj'-three years ago. It 
is a vigorous protest at what the writer deemed a most unjust 
abridgement of the liberty of speech, because he was not 
permitted on occasions of public worship, to ventilate some 
ver}^ sincere though singular opinions. After repeated 
attempts at such interruption of religious service, from which 
he could not be persuaded to desist, he was arrested and 
convicted in a civil court, though for prudential reasons the 
penalty for the offence was not exacted. In his appeal to 
the public against the rank injustice, he is very severe upon 
both the churches and ministers for their gross departure 
from .the simplicity of Gospel truth and Christian life, — 
notably St. Peter's, then under the rectorship of the gentle 
and scholarl}^ Dr. Eudd, and the First Presbyterian still 
favored with the pastorate of the fervid and eloquent Dr. 
Lansing. He arraigns these two congregations, before the bar 
of public opinion on several distinct charges ; but what is 
particularly noticeable is the onslaught he makes upon their 
" pompous, costly and gorgeous church edifices ; furnished 
with luxurious and unseemly extravagance, shutting out 
the poor, and even driving them into dissipation and infi- 
delity ;" and last of all upon the profane intrusion of cljoir 
singing in divine worship with tunes more fitting the stage 
than the house of God. Indeed, thought I, while I'eading 
these things, and more of the same sort, are these the good 



14 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

old days of pious simplicity T have heard so much about, and 
from which we have so far degenerated ? It sounded so much 
Hke an echo of the talk of to-day, that I confess it was some 
relief to know that church extravagance with fashionable, 
operatic church music, did not originate witli this wayward 
generation, but belonged Hkewise to those gracious times ! 

In truth, all these things are to be judged relatively to 
time and circumstance, while a just comparison drawn 
between the Auburn of 1828 and the Auburn of 1881, 
wouki not only show what is so patent to all, this increase 
of material prosperity, but reveal at the same time a substan- 
tial improvement eve'ii in those aspects in which modern 
society is thought to be most open to criticism. 

I met, only the othei- day, with an article in an English 
review, which illustrates in this precise way, social progress 
in this country. The writer is an American who has spent 
the large part of his life abroad, and on revisiting his native 
New England village, compares its present condition with 
his memories of it fifty years ago. He i-eproduces with a 
picturesque vividness, the quaint little town, built on two 
streets which crossed at right angles, giving it the name of 
" The Four Corners," with its rival church edifices, two in 
number, and both innocent of comfort, much less of luxury ; 
its small one story district school house, and more stately 
academy; its ugly, yellow-painted town house, where all 
matters of local government and general politics were dis- 
cussed and settled, and its taverns and miscellaneous stores, 
where citizens commonly spent their evenings to talk and 
drink over the events of the day. Drinkmg was universal, 
and liquor selling the most profitable branch of business. 
Nothing could be done without the aid of rum, not even the 
holding of an ecclesiastical conference as the old account 
books show, without a plentiful supply. The annual militia 
muster which combined the pomp of war with the gaiety of a 



FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 16 

holiday, was the principal amusement. The people lived 
very plainl_y ; were industrious and frugal if not temperate, 
while there was an educated class, who would have done 
honor to the most cultivated society of the time. 

This was the village as pictured in the memory of the 
non-resident American, who returns a half a century later, 
to find it a thriving railway centre, its streets adorned with 
choice shade trees and lighted with gas ; its dwellings and 
public buildings greatly improved in comfort and architec- 
ture, with no signs of poverty, but apparent thrift every 
where and comparative luxur}^ There was not a liquor 
shop in the town, but instead a savings bank, a free public 
library, several literary societies, with stated courses of pop- 
ular and scientilic lectures. Religion and culture had kept 
pace with material progress and the change from fifty years 
before, was as striking as it is suggestive. 

But what makes the testimony of this writer the more 
interesting is, that to him, his native village was only an 
illustration of similar changes which met him every where, 
indicating the social progress of the countr}^ within that 
period, the exceptional instances being largely due to foreign 
ideas, customs and influences, the tendency of which is to 
bring down the general standing of intelligence and morals. 

The value of our historical literature, as I have said, 
depends on its fidelity to truth. The narrative may be 
colored by prejudice, v;'ithout violence to the facts. The 
coloring will be easily detected ; and the philosophy can be 
separated from the substance of the history. I know of 
nothing more readable or trustworthy in natural history 
than the facts which Mr. Darwin has gathered and arranged 
out of the life and habit of the whole animal kingdom to 
sustain his peculiar theory of evolution. But though I con- 
fide in the candor and fidelity to existing facts, characteristic 
of that eminent naturalist, must I therefol'e accept his theory 



16 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

of tlie origin of man? We know beforehand that it is not 
the matter-of-fact world, whither the novelist or the drama- 
tist would take us as we surrender to the fascination ; but an 
ideal world into which his imagination transports, us and we 
enjoy the excursion the more for that very reason. History 
is separated from Eomance by sharp and rigid lines ; and 
these are becoming more and more distinct. The ready 
behef once accorded to whatever assumed the dignity of 
historical narrative, has passed away. Much of the earlier 
Grecian and Roman history proves to be legendarj^ and fab- 
ulous. It is not very long since the story of Romulus was 
scarcely less questioned in our schools, than the landing of 
the Pilgrims at Plymouth, or the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. All ancient historical writers once stood upon the 
same footing and were regarded as equally credible. All 
parts of the same author were supposed to rest upon the 
same authority. A blind, indiscriminate faith, — acquies- 
cence rather than belief— embraced equally and impartially 
the whole range of ancient story, setting aside perhaps those 
prodigies which passed for embellishment to relieve the 
otherwise tedious narrative. 

But all this is changed. The present century, if it did not 
give birth to, has largely developed, a new science, the 
science of historical criticism which has revolutionized the 
study and whole groundwork of history. It has reversed at 
many points the views once held of the nations and races of the 
ancient world. A new antiquity may be said to have been 
reared out of the old ; and while very much that was unreal 
has vanished at the touch of the critic's wand, a fresh revela- 
tion has taken its place. I would not say that the destructive 
criticism which has made havoc with long accepted beliefs, 
has not erred on that side. The tendency, as is quite natu- 
ral, has doubtless been to the extreme, where there was so 
much rubbish to be cleared away. But this is a tendency 



FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 17 

which takes care of itself in the long run ; and the new- 
fabric with fairer proportions and firmer foundations is sure 
to rise out of the fragments of discarded systems whether of 
philosophy or fact. 

The spirit of critical inquir}^, however, is just now most 
active in archteological research, involving the distribution 
of races over the globe, relative priority of occupation and 
so the antiquity and origin of man. On such a broad and 
obscure field of investigation, and entered upon so recently, 
we must wait with patience for definite results. Some start- 
Hng opinions have from time to time been given out with 
no little assurance, which later developments have shown 
were hasty if not groundless. Nothing has as yet been 
brought to light which justifies the belief that man existed 
prior to the luiman period as defined in the first chapters of 
Genesis, confessedly the most ancient writing in the world, and 
which as Bunsen says, has no appearance of exaggerating 
its own antiquity. Assuming that it gives the true origin 
of man, there was no need of interminable ages for his devel- 
opment ; and the children of the men wdio built the ark and 
the tower of Babel could build Thebes, Memphis, and the Pyr- 
amids, within the time which the received chronology allows 
between the flood and the era of these monuments. As 
early in the book of Grenesis as the fourth chapter, mention 
is made of the invention of instruments of music, of artificers 
in brass and iron, and certainly such a structure as the Ark 
is described to have been, implies an advanced state of the 
mechanical arts. The immediate descendents of Noah, built 
cities and founded mighty empires. The men of Shinar 
knew how to build stupendous fabrics of brick and mortar. 
If then we receive this Book of Genesis as a true though 
concise history of the antediluvian world, we have the data 
to account for the early development of human art, without 
recourse to undefined and fabulous ages in which man crept 



18 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

from kinship with the V)rute, to dominion over the earth. 
The theory that the human race began its existence at the 
lowest stage of barbarism, is neither demanded nor warranted 
by any known facts. On the other hand, the evidence is, 
that barbarism, wherever found, is a decline from a previous 
state of civilization. 

The most remote races whose history can only be gathered 
from their graves, their habitations and implements, by no 
means indicate primitive man to have been the rude creature 
some would make him. The pre-historic men, of whom we 
know any thing, appear to have been the superiors in physi- 
cal structure, and mental power, if the skull is any measure 
of comparison, and in the arts of life, to some later peoples, 
whose history is known. The oldest human skulls as yet 
found are among the largest, and indicate if not a highly 
cultivated, certainly a powei'ful race of men, confirming the 
earliest scripture records that there were giants in those 
days; and may, for all evidence to the contrary, belong to 
no older period than the antediluvian times when "the 
wickedness of man was exceeding great upon the earth." All 
this is against the idea of a progressive development of man 
from an inferior origin. 

It would appear, moreover, that the same general features 
belong to this pre-historic civilization, wherever it is traced 
in any part of the world. Similar implements, weapons 
and utensils of the same materials and general style of man- 
ufacture, indicate its general supremacy. In modes of arch- 
itecture for dwellings and for military defence, the differences 
are no greater than those which now belong, in the same 
regard, to essentially the same grades of civilized life. The 
men of the Stone Age, who occupied the old world and 
passed away before the dawn of history, were very like the 
people in possession of this continent when first discovered 



FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 19 

by the Europeans.' The same form of the flint arrow, the 
same style of stone hatchet found in the graves of the 
unknown warriors of the pre-historic race that occupied 
Britian and France, were the weapons in use by the North 
American Indian when first known to the white man ; while 
in tlie then unexplored mounds of the lower Mississippi and 
the valley of the Ohio, extending into parts of Western New 
York, lay concealed the relics of a people who had preceded 
the tribes then in possession of the New World. These 
ancient mounds have since yielded some of their treasures to 
the arclueologist, leaving little doubt of the close affinity 
between those who built them in physical character, in their 
habits, social institutions and religious beliefs with the pre- 
historic men of the old world. They worked not only in 
stone and clay but also in copper and silver, as seen from 
their implements, utensils and ornaments. They were ac- 
quainted with the rich mineral deposites along the banks of 
Lake Superior as attested by ancient excavations in which 
are found the stone mauls and picks and decayed wooden 
shovels of these ancient miners. They were not only tillers 
of the soil, but give proof of artistic skill as weavers, potters, 
and to some extent workers in metals, while the monuments 
they have left behind indicate industry and power. In no 
respect, however, do they seem to have been the superior of 
the peoples who succeeded them, in their weapons, or many 
of their implements, though doubtless the ruder forms 
of these may have survived, while the more skillful and del 
icate products may have mouldered and perished. Their 
mound-village sites, from which their habitations and 
defences have disappeared, with their sacrificial burial places, 
sufficiently distinguish them fi'om the I'oving and unsettled 

1 See " Fossil Men and their Modern Representatives," in which the author, Prin- 
cipal Dawson, of the McGill University, has done most excellent service in employing 
existing information as to American Races, " to illustrate and explain Conditions long 
since passed away in the Eastern Continent." 



20 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

tribes who disputed with thein their ancient possessions. Dr. 
Wilson in his " Pre-liistoric Man " gives an ilkistration of an 
ancient burial place discovered near Brockville, C. " Here 
were buried about fourteen feet below the snrface, twenty 
skeletons, arranged in a circle with their feet toward the 
centre. Some of the skeletons were of gigantic proportions, 
but their bones had. well nigh crumbled into dust. With 
these were found well made spears and chisels of native 
copper, stone chisels, gouges and flint arrow heads, and a 
curious terra-cotta mask resembling the heads on the 
earthen vessels of the mound-builders." This corresponds, 
says Dr. Dawson, with the old Alleghan modes of interment, in 
the South west, where the skeletons are found in the same 
position, and often with an earthen vessel, bearing the repre- 
sentation of a human face at the head of each, for food or 
water, even as David discovered his enemy Saul asleep in 
the trench with the spear and cruise at his bolster.'^ On our 
own Fort Hill, before devoted to its present uses, a number 
of skeletons were found similarly grouped in a circle, placed 
in death as warriors would lie with their feet to the watch 
lire — a mode of burial peculiar to the mound-builders. 

That the commanding earth-work which crowns Fort Hill,^ 
belongs to a period which antedates the occupation of this 
region by the Iroquois, is generally conceded. A similar 
mound enclosure on an elevation, near where the rail-road 
crosses North Street, only still more marked, is remembered 
by the older inhabitants, as encircling some three or four 
acres. The whole has since been levelled b}^ tlie plow and 
is under cultivation. It was the site of an ancient fortified 
town and abounds in interesting relics. Here are found 
the most ancient forms of the disc hammer,* characteristic 



2 " Fossil Men. etc." p. 60. 

3 See Fig. 4 in the series of illustrations, in Mr. Wheeler's paper, "Inventors and In- 
ventions of Cayuga Co., N. Y.," which forms a part of this volume. 

* Id. Fig. 7 b. 



FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 21 

of the Stone Age, also the simplest type of the arrovv head, 
small and triangular,' without the notches at the base, after 
the pattern which Nilsson and others give as used by the 
Flint folk of Europe ; fragments of pottery in profusion, 
ornamented with various tracings and indentations ; the stone 
pipe of quite elaborate forms, and similar indications of a very 
ancient civilization. Only such things as are of imperishable 
material, survive to tell of the life and customs of the people, 
who had chosen for their abode a spot commanding one of 
the most extended and charming prospects in the vicinity of 
our fair city. No tradition gives any clue as to the date of its 
occupation. It was evidently not known to the French Jesuit 
Fathers, who have given us the earliest records of this 
region, (1656-1684), and who locate with special distinctness 
the Cayuga villages as they then existed. But though pre-his- 
toric in its origin and fate, it would not be difficult for the 
antiquarian to restore it in sketch to the eye, as it appeared 
when it was the centre of life and power. In the vicinity 
stood some years since, as I am informed, a mound of earth, 
which when levelled was found to contain a large number 
of skeletons, many of which were pierced with arrow heads 
still fast in the bones, showing that these warj-iors fell in 
battle, doubtless in defence of the town, in the struggle 
between fierce and rival peoples for the mastery of this 
ground. 

It seems to have been the fate of all aboriginal popula- 
tions, in Asia and Europe, as well as on the North American 
continent, at one time or another, to be thus dispossessed of 
the soil, and to fade away before some superior race. When 
first known to the explorers of the country, the Indian tribes 
occupying the territory now covered by the State of New 
York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, together with a portion of 

6 "Inventors and Inventions, etc.," Fig. 5. The hand hammer and the arrow heads 
thus illustrated were found on the ancient site referred to in the text. 



22 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

Canada,, were grouped into leagues or confederacies, both for 
defence and aggression, with httle or no apparent advantage 
of the one over the other. Indeed, fi-om some cause, there 
appears to have been such adjustment of limits and relations 
as civilized nations have foand necessary to preserve the 
balance of power. The Iroquois live nations better known 
from their geographical position and their prominence in the 
early history of the country, were at that time hemmed in on 
all sides by such powerful neighbors as the Hurons, the 
Neuters and the Eries on the north and west, and. on the 
south and east by the Susquehannas or Andastes, and the 
Mohicans. It was not until after settlements were made by 
the French in Canada, and the Dutch, followed by the 
English, in New York, that the Iroquois confederacy evinced 
that spirit of conquest which distinguishes them and made 
their name a terror from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. It" 
would appear that the ambition which knew no bounds to 
aggression, and has won for them the title of the " Romans 
of the west," was .suddenly stimulated by the presence of the 
European, as it was afterwards materially helped by his 
counsels and supei'ior arms, so that within a period of less 
than thirty years beginning with the destruction of the 
Hurons in 1649, they had swept from the territory I have 
indicated, these rival confederacies, or held them in subjec- 
tion as their conquerors. 

This proved an immense factor in the problem of the new 
civilization and paved the way for its solution. It simpli- 
fied, at the outset, the relations of the several colonies, 
French, Dutch and English, with the natives, and centered 
every important question of mutual interest, policy, or 
treaty, in the grand council chamber at Onondaga, the capi- 
tal of the Iroquois confederacy. It moreover gave, in ihe 
distribution of powers, to single cantons particular jurisdic- 
tion over conquered territory. Thus when Sir William Penn 



FOL^RTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 16 

would extend the limits of bis colony by the purchase of a 
portion of the lands wrested by conquest from the Susque- 
hannas, he was refused by Orehnoue, the great Cajuga war 
chief, who subsequently made over that same land to the 
English, at Albany, by treaty, thus determining the boun- 
dary line between Pennsylvania and New York. And sixty 
or seventy years later, when the Moravian Brethren would 
establish a mission site on the bank of the Susquehanna, 
consent must fii'st be obtained from one of the successors of 
Orehaoue, and scarcely less distinguisRed Cayuga chief, 
Togahaoue. Thus, also, Shikellimy, father of the celebrated 
Logan, though an Oneida, l>y adopticju, but married to the 
daughter of a Cayuga sachem, was made a ruler over a rem- 
nant of the conquered Shawnees, and other tribes at Sham- 
okin on the Susquehanna— an instance of the Iroquois policy 
of constituting a sort of vice-gerenc}^ over all subjugated 
tribes. 

For a hundred years the Five Nations played this conspic- 
uous part in events which were slowly and surely con- 
spiring toward one result ; and their final overthrow became 
one of those necessities of history for which there is no rem- 
edy. They sought, in their pride and braverj^ to maintain 
their position and prestige in the strife between French and 
English for their alliance and so for the supremacy ; and 
deluded themselves with the fiction that they wQre indepen- 
dent of either. But with all their craft, the eloquence of 
their orators, the diplomacy (^f their sachems and the ]3rowess 
of their warriors, it was as inevitable as destiny itself, that 
they in turn should come to the same fate which they had 
meted to others. It was in the necessity of events that their 
fortunes should be linked to one or the other of the two con- 
tending powers for the empire of the continent, and not less 
a necessity of their geographical position as well. And no 
sooner had they broken their earliest alliances, discarded the 



24 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

French, and driven the missionaiy Fathers from their can- 
tons, than we find them naihng up, in their villages, the- 
arms of the Dulce of York as a token of their allegiance to 
the English. The war of the Revolution, nearly a century 
afterward, found them simple dependencies to the crown of 
Great Britian ; and they fell with the downfall of British 
sovereignty over the colonies. What the final result would 
have been, had the Iroquois five nations combined with the 
French, and against English colonization, we may hardly 
conjecture. It is t^sy, however, to see that such an alliance 
would have postponed, if it would not have prevented the 
establishment of liberty in the new world. But let us not 
forget to do justice to that feature of the French policy 
which would win the alliance of these fierce nations bj^ the 
arts of persuasion and of peace. The Jesuit Father in the 
simplicity of his faith and with the heroism of his order, 
sought the conversion of the Indian, while not indifferent to 
the motive of winning his allegiance to t^e crown of France. 
It was the Catholic policy, then, as now, to convert the 
" savage," not more for the sake of bringing him into the 
Church, than of incorporating him into the State. Even in 
the overturn of the Iroquois missions, numbers of their con- 
verts were persuaded by the Jesuit Fathers to accompany 
them back to Canada, as thirty-five years before in the dis- 
aster which befell their cherished Huron missions, when that 
nation was destroyed by the Iroquois, they succeeded in gath- 
ering a Christian remnant near Quebec ; and the Indian vil- 
lages of Lorette and Caghnawaga, on the banks of the St. Law- 
rence, remain until this day. It is due to the same policy that 
there are at the present time more than 7,000 Ii'oquois in 
Canada alone ; and of this number nearly a thousand 
descendants, of the Mohawks, chiefly, who emigrated thither, 
two hundi'ed years ago, under the guidance of the Jesuit 
missionaries. 



FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 25 

This siuiple fact may, perhaps, furnish a hint, at least, 
toward an answer to the perplexing question — what to do 
with the Indian ? It has been deiuonstrated that he can be 
both christianized and civilized, while it has been as clearly 
proven, that all measures on the part of our Government 
with its system of treaties, reservation agencies, preserving 
his tribal relations and discarding his citizenship, have 
ended in failure. He has been driven from reservation to 
reservation ; cajoled by treaties made to be broken ; cheated 
by government agents and exasperated to retaliate by the 
only methods the savage has learned for self-protection — 
those of war, with the indiscriminate massacre of the inno- 
cent and the helpless. 

It was after the close of the Kevolution, that the State of 
New York, by solemn treaty with the Cayugas, reserved to 
them a hundred square miles, on both sides of the lake that 
bears their name ; and guaranteed to them the right to hsh 
in its waters and hunt in its forests, and to their descendants 
forever. Ten years sufficed to strip that reservation of 
almost every trace of Indian occupation. As late as the 
Presidency of John Quincy Adams, that sagacious and lib- 
eral statesman, in view of the harassing perplexity of this 
Indian problem, proposed to Congress that all the Indians 
then left within the precincts of civilization, be removed to 
the region about Green Bay, where for a long time to come, 
they could be secure from the intrusion of the white man ; 
and this is the region now included within the eastern 
border of the State of Wisconsin and more than a thousand 
miles this side of the Kocky Mountains. Thus it is that 
our wisest statesmanship, in dealing with the Indian problem, 
finds itself continually swamped by the wave of our advanc- 
ing civilization. We may not forecast its solution ; only this, 
that the past has proved costly and cruel, and the future is 
far from being hopeful. 



26 FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

But, perhaps, I am touching too closely upon cpiestions 
of the hour. Still, it is well to be reminded that there is this 
living connection of the present with the past ; and as our 
work is, to husband the experience of the past, we may 
thereby be doing most for the light and guidance of the 
future. 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS 
BY THE PRESIDENT. 



February 15TH, 1882. 



ADDRESS. 



It is an agreeable duty which the position, held bj me 
through your favoi", since the Society was formed, imposes 
upon me at each annual meeting. It is, moreover, an honor 
which I gratefully appreciate to be thus associated with you 
in the work we have in trust, the dignity and charm of which 
grow with the passing years. No one of us, perhaps, is free 
to do all he would to promote the objects we here have in 
view. For the most part we are under the pressure of other 
duties, with less of leisure than inclination, to pursue the 
studies to which our Society invites. Each year, however, 
reveals the value of these labors, and furnishes fresh incentive 
to renewed efforts in the field we have undertaken to explore. 

It has been our aim thus far to secure accurate local his- 
tories of times and events within the limits of our own county, 
with sketches of individuals who took an active part in them ; 
and our archives bear witness to the diligence and success 
which have attended these efforts. There has been no lack, 
either of material, or of careful labor in its preparation for the 
uses of the Society. We have listened, at successive meet- 
ings, to these monographs with a zest and satisfaction hardlj' 
to be found elsewhere among our recreations. And yet the 
pleasure and profit thus derived, are incidental only to a much 
higher end. Next to acting well our own part in the events 
which are passing into history, is the* duty to preserve and 
transmit the record of what has been done for human welfare, 
and would otherwise perish from the knowledge of men. 



\ 



30 FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

This is a work whicb is never completed. Though our 
Society should become venerable in years and increase its ac 
quisitions many fold, it will continue to have the same things 
to do that it is now doing, with perhaps a much wider field, 
and, as we may hope, still larger facilities. It may well be 
our ambition, entrusted with its interests in its comparative 
infancy, to do what we can to make it worthy of perpetuation 
in its beneficent work, as the generations of men come and go. 

In my last annual address, I was led to speak of our home 
field as inviting archaeological research, suggested by remains 
corresponding to those attributed topre-historicman, as found 
in different parts of Europe, and, indeed, in almost every por- 
tion of tbe habitable globe. I propose to pursue the subject 
this evening, with the aid of the more recent labors of those 
who have done most to inform us of the character and habits 
of the people who occupied this region, when first known to 
the European. 

The importance whicli has attached to such remains, is in 
the evidence the}'' are supposed to furnish of the great anti- 
quit}' of man upon the earth ; and at the same time, as shed- 
ding light upon the related question of his development from 
some inferior animal type. Here for example, I hold in my 
hand such a relic, one of many similar things picked up on 
the ancient village site within the limits of the city corpora- 
tion, to which reference was made in my address last 
year. It is one of the rudest implements of the Stone Age, 
and may be regarded as among the most primitive put to the 
uses of man. It is a simple hand hammer, made by slightly 
hollowing a flat pebble on each side, so as to be firmly grasped 
by tlie thumb and two fingers. It was an indispensable uten- 
sil in every household, for driving wedges to split wood, 
breaking marrow bonfis, cracking nuts, bruising grains, and 
similar purposes, for which it appears to have had no substi- 
tute. This one bears marks of long and varied use, reducing 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 31 

considerably its original size and shape, its flat surfaces smooth 
by hand wear, and looks as if it might have been an heirloom 
in some family, handed down for generations. 

Now the question is, do we get any nearer the solution of 
this problem of the origin or antiquity of man, by the aid of 
this and similar implements scattered as they are in every 
part of the world? If the Stone Age covered the same period 
the world over ; or if the implements and utensils which 
survive a people, furnished any criterion of their capacity, or 
intelligence even, the question would be greatly simplified. 
But, for example, the Stone Age of Europe antedates written 
histor}^ Plence it opens a fine field for the antiquary in which 
to indulge his imagination as to how long man has been upon 
this earth, while the evolutionist can weave what theory he 
chooses about the natural capacity of a creature who could 
only fabricate such rude articles, and be content with the 
narrow life which they indicate. On the other hand, tiiere is 
a Stone Age peculiar to this continent in that it continued 
to a comparatively recent date, and subsequent to written 
history, so that we know much ai)Out its peoples, their char- 
acter, habits with their political and social institutions. 

Our North American Indians, up to the tmie of their dis- 
covery by European explorers, were using the same stone 
implements, not less primitive, not a whit more ingenious in 
their make, than those of pre-historic Europe, sofrequentlv 
cited as the silent witnesses of the indefinite age of man upon 
this planet, and of his inferior origin. I have examined, care- 
fully, a large number of illustrations covering every shape 
and style of stone implement and weapon, characteristic of 
the pre-historic age^ side by side with those in common use by 
our aboriginal Indians, and there is no difference ; but so fin- 
as they indicate intelligence or capacity, the}^ might have 
been made and used by one and the same people. Pre-his- 
toric man as measured by the remains disinterred from the 



\ 



32 FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

burial mounds and caves of the European continent, was at 
least not inferior to the red man of America, either in physi- 
cal characteristics or in the arts of life. Indeed the resem- 
blance in habits, institutions and religious belief, as thus 
indicated, can hardly be questioned. 

But what is perhaps even more significant in this connec- 
tion, the American Stone Age, as we know it, was preceded 
by or cotemporaneous with a period in which flourished a 
people wlio have left behind them evidences of art and forms 
of industry, which were unknown to the Indian three hun- 
dred years ago, when first seen by the European.' Are we 
therefore to infer th.it these mound-builders and metal 
workers were the intellectual superiors of the red man who 
was found in possessioh of the soil, though he did not perpet- 
uate their type of civilization ? Does the fact that the lords 
of the continent, when first known to the adventurous navi- 
gator, were living in bark houses, and content with the rudest 
form of stone implement, prove them inferior in capacity or 
achievement to the people who built their pueblos on raised 
embankments of earth, the remains of which have given them 
their name ? There are, for example, several well known 

1 " From the absence of all traditionary knowledge of the mound-builders, among the 
tribes found east of the Mississippi," says Morgan, (Houses and House Life, pp. 219, 
220,) " an inference arises that the period of their occupation was ancient. Their with- 
drawal was probably gradual and completed before the advent of the ancestors of the 
present tribes, or simultaneous with their arrival. It seems more likely that their 
retirement from the country was voluntary tlian that they were expelled by an influx 
of wild tribes. If their expulsion had been the result of a protracted warfare, all remem- 
brance of so remarkable an event would scarcely have been lost among the tribes by 
whom they were displaced. * * * * it jg not improbable that the attempt to trans- 
plant the New Mexican type of Village life into the valley of the Ohio, proved a failure 
and that after great effoits continued through centuries of time, it was finally aban- 
doned by their withdrawal first into the Gulf region through which they entered, and 
lastly from the country altogether." Dr. Abbott, (Primitive Industry, p. 350) asserts 
that " as yet there is not one jot or tittle of evidence that proves that the native races 
of the North Atlantic seaboard, were not as old as the mound-builders. The latter seem 
the older simply because the traces of antiquity on the seaboard have been overlooked 
or strangely disregarded, because so uninviting when compared with the rich harvests of 
strange objects, that reward the explorers of the western mounds." 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 33 

Indian sites within the hmits of this count}', and assuming 
now that all we know about the people who once occupied 
them, is what may be gathered from the remains which have 
survived them, their stone hammers, axes, chisels, pestles, 
gouges, their flint spear and arrow heads, or the fragments 
of pottery, which suggest their household economy, and what 
would be the ready conclusion ? Why, that they were the 
rudest of savages, if not the most inferior specimens of 
humanit3^ 

But, fortunately, it so happens that we know much about 
these old Cayugas, that we can never know of the pre-historic 
peoples who have left the same im})erishable relics, so alike 
in form, and use, that they might have been fabricated by the 
same hands. We know that they developed many useful 
arts of which no remains are to be found ; as of curing and 
tanning the skins of animals ; of the manufacture of mocca- 
sins and wearing apparel ; of rope and net making from fila- 
ments of bark ; of finger weaving with warp and woof of the 
same material into mats, sashes, burden straps and other, 
useful fabrics ; of basket making with osier, cane and splints ; 
of canoe making from skins, birch bark, or by hollowing and 
shaping a single log ; of making fish spears and bone hooks, 
implements for athletic games, musical instruments, such as 
the flute and the drum together with various personal orna- 
ments of shell, bone, and stone.- We know also that they 
were cultivators of the soil ; had their harvest festivals, and 
stored for winter use the fruits of their husbandry. 

But more than this, we know that these ancient Cayugas 
formed an integral part of a powerful confederacy, with a 
government and institutions in structure and purpose not 
unlike our own Republic, which came centuries later ; cer- 
tainly more in accordance with it in form and principle, than 
any cotemporaneous European government. It was a marvel 

2 Lewis H. Morgan in North American Review, October, 1868. 



34 FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

of political sagacity, as it appeared to the intelligent and 
devoted missionaries who first sought to win the Iroquois to 
the crown of France and the Christian faith. The students 
of political science in the Old World, were at a loss to account 
for the existence of a system evincing such wisdom in adjust- 
ing power to personal rights and combining law with liberty, 
among rude barbarians. 

Now with this knowledge, we are only to remember that 
they were a people of the Stone Age, to distrust the conclu- 
sion to which we are invited in speculations about the pre- 
historic races, that because men made their common and more 
useful implements and their most effective weapons, of stone 
instead of iron ; and their ornaments of shell and bone rather 
than of copper or gold, therefore they were low in intellect 
and related, not distantly, to the chimpanzee or the gorilla. 

It is due largely to the careful labors of a native of this 
county, the late Lewis H. Morgan, that we have such full 
knowledge of our immediate predecessors in the central and 
western portion of the State. It was to the political and 
social system of the Iroquois, that this distinguished scholar 
devoted his earlier ethnological studies, and now almost 
simultaneous with his lamented death, his latest investiga- 
tions in this "great problem of Indian life" appear in a vol- 
ume recently issued by the Department of the Interior at 
Washington.^ We have also within the past year, from the 
pen of the eminent philologist, Mr. Horatio Hale, an authen- 
tic history of the origin of the Iroquois League, as the result 
of much patient research.* It presents the founder of the 
confederation, Hiawatha, as no longer a divinity either Iro- 
quois or Algonquin, but in the garb of sober history and 
under the title of " A Law-giver of the Stone Age " Dr. 
Morgan has done much to disentangle American aboriginal 

3 U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey, Houses and House Life of the American 
Aborigines; Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. IV, 1881. 

4 Hiawatha and the Iroquois Confederation. A study in Anthropology, 1881. 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 85 

history and ethnology from perversion, caricature and ro- 
mance; but a more satisfactory single study in this direction, 
than this of Mr. Hale, it would be difficult to find among the 
various contributions to this department of knowledge. 

It is from a confused Indian mythology, that the genius of 
Longfellow has woven the charming poem which sings of 
Hiawatha as of miraculous birth, sent of the Great Spirit 
among the red men to clear their rivers, forests and fi-shing 
grounds, and teach them tlie arts of peace. The Gitche 
Maniton, or Great Master of Life, has become weary with the 
quarrels and bloodshed of his poor children, and tells them 
that they should fight each other no more ; that their strength 
is in union ; that henceforth he would have them at peace 
with one another, and promises to send them a great prophet 
who will guide them and teach them ; that they have only 
to listen to his counsels to grow and prosper; otherwise they 
would fade away and perish. If, then, they would receive 
their prophet, they must cease from their bloody quarrels ; 
wash the war paint from their faces; bury their war clubs ; 
smoke together the peace-pipe, and love as brothers. Enough 
to say, the promise is made good in the birth of the child of 
wonder, this son of the West Wind ; in his strange nurture ; 
his' marvelous deeds of wisdom and love, until his final fare- 
well to the people for whose good he had wrought and suf- 
fered, when, as he faded from their sight, his bark canoe 
seemed lifted high into a sea of splendor and then sank like 
the new moon into the purple distance. 

As in the Grecian m3^thology, gods were only magnified 
men, so this fabled divinity of the red man, was no other than 
a veritable Onondaga chief, " a grave Iroquois law-giver of 
the fifteenth century," instead of an " Ojibway demigod," as 
he is made to figure in modern literature. Let us then for a 
while, this evening, follow the traces of veritable history, as 
given by Mr. Hale in his discriminating research over ground 
so long surrendered to fable and song. 



36 FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

Tlie Iroquois were first discovered in 1608, and it is claimed 
in tlieir traditions that their confederacy had existed from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred years, when they first 
saw Europeans, which woukl give the date of its formation 
about A. D. 1400-1450/ If the Iroquois were originally one 
people, as there is good reason to believe, they had been 
broken into five independent tribes contiguous to each other 
and ^bstantially of one language. The Mohawks and Onei- 
das on the east, were involved in perpetual broils with the 
Mohicans who held the banks of the Hudson River. The 
Cayugas and Senecas on the west, were in like antagonism 
with such warlike tribes as the Eries and Hurons, while the 
Onondagas, being the central nation, had their own policy, 
directed by a crafty, ambitious chief who sought to advance 
his own power, regardless of the other Iroquois tribes. His 
name was Atotarho, or as also written, Tododaho. He was 
regarded as a most dangerous antagonist by his immediate 
neighbors, as well as by his more distant enemies, and was 
sullenly opposed to anything like union with the other tribes. 

Hiawatha, himself a chief of high rank and of repute among 
the Onondagas for his wisdom and goodness, on the contrary, 
longed for union and peace, not only among the five nations 
thus grouped together, but for all others, that could be in- 
duced to come into such a league. He was now past middle 
life, a calm and thoughtful observer of events. Moved by 
the sad condition to which war and misrule had reduced his 
own, and the other tribes, he kept his own counsel, while 
meditating a scheme which would secure general peace and 
amity. 

The time at length came, when Hiawatha was ready for 
action. He sought first the adhesion of his own nation to 
the plan, before it should be proposed to the others. Exer- 
cising the right of one of his rank, he summoned the chiefs 

e Morgan's Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines, p. 26. 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 37 

and people in council. Thej came togetlier in large num- 
bers. But the presence of Atotarho, seated in grim silence, 
was enough to over-awe the assembly, for though he spoke 
not a word, it was a})parent to all that he looked with dis- 
pleasure , upon the change. Hiawatha unsupported by a 
single voice, stood alone and the council dispersed. Nothing 
daunted, however, he called another assembly which for the 
same reason as before, broke up without debate. He per- 
sisted for the third time ; but besides himself no one came ; 
and as the narrative relates, Hiawatha seated himself on the 
ground in sorrow ; enveloped his head in his mantle of skins 
and remained a long time wrapped in grief and thought. At 
length, he arose and left the town; and as the councils of his 
own nation were closed against him, he betook his way toward 
the Mohawks. It is related that when but a short distance 
from the town, he passed Atotarho, his crafty antagonist 
seated near a well known spring, in his usual stern and silent 
mood. No word passed between them, as Hiawatha plunged 
into the forest. Among other incidents of his solitary jour- 
ney, it is told, that in passing a certain lake, he gathered a 
number of white shells with which its shores were sprinkled, 
and arranged them in wampum strings upon his breast, as 
the token that he was the messenger of peace. It was early 
one morning that he arrived at a Mohawk town, the residence 
of a noted chief, Dekanawidah ; and seating himself upon a 
falling trunk, near a spring, just as the day was dawning, he 
awaited the coming of the first to draw water. Presently, 
one of the six brothers of Dekanawidah, who, with their 
families, lived with him in the same house, came with his 
vessel of elm bark, toward the spring. Hiawatha sat silent 
and motionless. Something in his aspect awed the warrior, 
who feared to address him. He returned to the house, saying 
to Dekanawidah, " A man, or a figure like a man, is seated 
by the spring, having his breast covered with white shells." 



38 FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

" It is a guest,' replied the chief, '• Go bring him in ; we will 
make him welcome.'''' 

Hiawatha found in the Mohawk chieftain, at once, a kin- 
dred spirit and a wise counselor. Together thej entered upon 
the task of shaping and perfecting the proposed league, and 
securing for it the popular favor. The idea, as we liave said, 
was of peace and union among the several tribes whose rela- 
tive position and mutu.d interest pointed in that direction, 
while the confederation, once formed, was intended to be suffi- 
ciently elastic to embrace any and all other tribes who souglit 
its benefits and complied with its terms. Indeed, the scheme 
in its inception, was a very broad and liberal one, and could 
it have been carried out, according to the idea of its pro- 
jector, it would have been to the Indian nations of the North 
American continent, what our Federal Union is to the states 
that compose it. That it did not reach these colossal pro- 
portions, will not diminish oui' respect for this " law-giver of 
the Stone Age," wdao had the heart to desire, and the mind 
to conceive the beneficient design. 

After much deliberation, the approbation of the Mohawks 
was obtained, and ambassadors were despatched to the Onei- 
das, the adjacent tribe, to secure their co-operation. The 
embassy met with a friendly reception, but the gravity of the 
matter required consideration, and it was not until the expi- 
ration of a year, that the consent of the Oneidas was given. 

With the prestige thus afforded by the favorable action of 
the Mohawks and Oneidas, the attempt was renewed to win 
the Onondagas to the scheme, and the deputation for the 

6 Among the Iroquois, hospitality was an established usage. If a man entered an 
Indian house, at whatever hour of the daj', in any of their villages, whether a villager, 
a tribesman or a stranger, it was the duty of the women therein to set food before him. 
An omission to do this, would have been a discourtesj' amounting to an affront. As a 
custom it was upheld by a vigorous public sentiment Mr. Morgan connects this univer- 
sal exercise of hospitality with the ownership of land in common, the distribution of 
their products to households, consisting of a number of families, or the practice of com- 
munism in living in the household. — Houses and House Life, etc., p. 61. 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 39 

purpose, con si steel of the three chiefs, Hiawatha, DekajiarWicTah, 
with the Oneida, Odatshehte. But with this reinforcement 
even, the proposal was fated to another failure.' Atotarho 
kept the same mind and coldl)'- refused to entertain the pro- 
ject. The deputation, however, were not to be ^rned from 
their purpose. Next to the Onondagas toward^he west, lay 
the Cayugas ; and to their capital these messengers of peace 
made their way through the unbroken fori^st, conscious of a 
high errand and still hopeful of success. Tjhe Caj' ugas needed 
little persuasion to induce them to ratify/the compact. 

This done, Akahenyonk, their chief, joined with the other 
deputies in one more effort to secure tes-ms with the Onon- 
dagas and their haughty chief. Resort w^s had to the tactics 
of a wise diplomacy, which takes into account the difficulties 
of the case, secures what it can at once, and waits upon time 
to bring about what, for the moment, it may seem to surren- 
der. Thus it was proposed to concede that tlie Onondagas 
should be the leading nation of the confederacy, as geograph- 
ically they occupied the centi'al position ; that their chief 
town should be the federal ca])ital where the general councils 
should be held, and in which they should have fourteen 
sachems, while no other nation should have more than ten ; 
that the right to summon a federal council should rest alone 
in Atatarho as the leading chief, and no act should be valid 
to which he might object. These concessions to the pride 
of the Onondagas and the haughty obstinacy of their chief, 
met the case; and in due time they also ratified in solemn 
treaty the league, which now embraced four of the Iroquois 
nations. It remained to secure the adhesion of the Senecas, 

' the most populous of them all. A certain distinction was 
accorded to them in the recognition of their two principal 

1 chiefs, as military commanders, with the title of Door Keepers 
of the Long House, an appellation by which the confederacy 
was to be known ; and they were prompt to follow the exam- 
ple of the other tribes. 



40 FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

The union tlius formed and the principles on which it was 
founded thus thoroughly understood, the next step was to 
construct and put in operation the actual government by the 
appointment of its first council on the basis of representation 
already determined. This was done at a convention com- 
posed, by common consent, of the leaders in the movement 
already mentioned, including the Seneca chiefs, six in all, 
which met near the Onondaga lake, with Hiawatha as their 
principal adviser, and attended by a large concourse of the 
people from various parts of the new confederacy. Fifty 
sachems were selected for the federal council, distributed as 
follows: nine each from the Mohawks and Oneidas ; four- 
teen from the Onondagas ; ten from the Cayugas, and eight 
from the Senecas. The rights of the several cantons com- 
posing tlic league, were carefully guarded by providing that 
unanimity must be reached in every decision ; that is, the 
voice of each tribe or nation as determined by the majority 
of its representatives, in sepai-ate deliberation, after the gen- 
eral discussion, must be given in favor of the measure to 
make it binding. Thus each particular nation had an equal 
standing in the federal council, without regard to the number 
of its representatives ; and to each was accorded a veto power 
against the action of all the others, thus neutralizing the con- 
cession made to the Onondagas in giving them the larger 
number of sachems in the council and their chief a veto upon 
its acts, as substantially the same right was accorded to all.' 

7 Recognizing unanimity a,e a necessary principle, the founders of the confederacy 
divided the sachems of each tribe into classes as a means for its attainment. No sachem 
was allowed to express an opinion in council, in the nature of a vote, until he had first 
agreed with the sacliem or sachems of his class upon the opinion to be expressed, and had 
been appointed to act as speaker for the class. Thus, the eight Seneca sachems, being 
in four classes, could have but four opinions ; and the ten Cayuga sachems being in the 
same number of classes could have but four. In this manner the sachems in each class 
were first brought to unanimity among themselves. A cross-consultation was then held 
between the four sachems appointed to speak for the four classes ; and when they had 
agreed they designated one of their number to express their resulting opinion, which 
was the answer of that tribe. If the several opinions agreed, the decision of the coun- 
cil was made. If not, the measure was defeated and the council was at an end.— Houses 
and House Life, etc., p. 37. 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 41 

This is the simple liistoiy of the origin of the Iroquois con- 
federation wiiieh, formore than three centuries, held the B'ive 
Nations together in perfect amity and made them such a 
power on this continent. I have rehearsed the story in the 
briefest form, as chiefly drawn from the elaborate paper of 
Mr. Hale, who has done sucli valnable service in disentang- 
ling this early portion of Iroquois history from the legends 
of their mythology, and given to tlieir most cherished and 
venerated name its place in true history. Hiawatha, as a 
real personage, ranks, with the heroes, sages and exemplars 
of the past, who have advanced human welfare. " His tender 
and lofty wisdom," says Mr. Hale, "his wide reaching benev- 
olence, and his fervent appeals to the better sentiments, 
enforced by the eloquence of which he was master, touched 
cords in the popular heart, which have continued until this 
day. Fragments of the speeches in which he addressed the 
council and the people of the league, are still remembered and 
repeated."** " About the main events of his history and about 
his character and purposes, tliere can be no reasonable doubt ; 
we have the wampum belts which he handled and whose sim- 
ple hieroglyphics preserve the memory of the public acts in 
which he took part. We have also in the Iroquois "Book 
of Rites " a still more clear and convincing testimony of the 
character both of this legislator and the people for whom his 
institutions were designed. This book, sometimes called the 
"Book of the condoling council," comprises the speeches, 
songs and other ceremonials which, from the earliest period 
of the confederacy, have composed the proceedings of their 
councils when a deceased chief is lamented and his successor 
is installed in office. The fundamental laws of the League, 
a list of then- ancient towns and the names of the chiefs who 



8 giawatlia aud the Iroquois Coufederatioii, p. 15. 



42 FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

constituted their first council, clianted in a icind of litany, 
are also comprised.'"* 

These men of the Stone Age, measured by their work and 
time, were the equals in intellectual endowment and prac- 
tical wisdom with any whose names are associated with the 
origin of nations. Their ideas of union and independence of 
law as the basis of liberty, antedate the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence an<i Constitution of the United States, at least three 
centuries. These " Flint Folk "' had maintained freedom with 
self-government in the heart of our empire state, for two hun- 
dred years before Hendrick Hudson sailed up the river which 
bears his name, or the Pilgrim Fathers set foot on Plymouth 
Rock. It was certainly not superiority of numbers that gave 
them the possession of the gateways of this continent from 
tlie Hudson to the Mississippi ; for at the lieight^ of their 
power, they could not command more than twenty-five hun- 
dred warriors, with a native population of less than twelve 
thousand. The simple fact that they maintained their union 
with free government, in its integrity for thrice the period 
which covers our national life, may of itself serve to increase 
our respect for these barbarians, as we are wont to regard 
them, if not to abate somewhat the self esteem of our modern 
civilization, which would delude us with the notion that supe- 
rior culture and wider knowledge, necessarily imply superior 
capacity and a sturdier virtue. 

Another fact of special significance is that there were no 
indications of degeneracy among their leaders, or in the peo- 
ple themselves, from the formation of their confederacy to 
the time when the earliest white men came among them, 

9 Id. p. 19. There are at the present time in the United States and Canada more than 
13,000 bearing the Iroquois names and lineage ; and says Morgan (Houses and House 
Life, etc., p. 32) : "Although but a shadow of the old confederacy now remains, it is fully 
organized with its complement of sachems and aids, witli the exception of the Mohawk 
tribe, which removed to Canada about 1775. Whenever vacancies occur, their places 
are filled and a general council is convened to install the new sachems and their aids. 
The present Iroquois are also perfectly familiar with the structure and principles of 
the ancient confederacy." 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 43 

" No senator of Yenice," says the Franciscan Fatlier Plennepin, 
" ever assumed a graver countenance or spoke with more 
weight than these Iroquois sachems in their assemblies." 
And the Jesuit Fatlier Lafitau, in similiar phrase, represents 
the federal senate at Onondaga as " discussing affairs of state 
with as much coolness and gravity, as the Spanish Junta or 
the grand council of Venice." The successor of the haughty 
Atotarho, two hundred years after the establishment of the 
League, was the princely and ciMirteous Garacontie, the fast 
friend of the French missionaries, the advocate of peace, and 
scarcely less honored and beloved in the other cantons than by 
his own peo])le, the Onondagas. He was, moreover, greatly 
esteemed by the Jesuit Fathers and the French authorities at 
Quebec, by whom he was entertained on occasions of state, 
with marks of highest respect, and whose ambassadors lie 
always received at the Iroquois capital, wuth becoming dignit}^ 
and grace. His name signifies " sun that advances," and his 
character as a sachem antl sage, was not unworthy the apjjel- 
lation. 

Not unlike Garacontie in many of his best characteristics, 
and perhaps his superior in the arts of diplomacy and elo- 
quence, was his contemporary, Saonchiogwa, the chief of 
the Cayugas, whose speeches in general council and on impor- 
tant embassies, have been preserved in the French Relations'" 
as among the finest specimens of native oratory, which have 
called forth such encomiums from our own statesmen and 
scholars. He was the friend and host of the learned and 
accomplished Jesuit, deCarhiel, whose confidence and esteem 
he enjoyed, during the eighteen years' residence of that mis- 
sionarv among the Cayugas, and through whose influence he 
was led to embrace the Christian faith, and subsequently 
baptized by the Lord Bishop at Quebec, in the presence of 
the Governor General and other French dignitaries both of 



w JlelatLon, 1656, Chap, yil ; IX), 1561, Chap. II. 



44 FIFIH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

church and state, on the conclusion of a morft important 
negotiation with which he had been charged by his conn 
trymen." 

Among examples of military genius, I might speak of 
Oreliaoue, also a Cayuga, and recognized as the great war 
chief of the Five Nations, at the period of which we are 
speaking. His achievements, both of peace and war, would 
fill a volume. He was, perhaps, the most prominent Indian 
figure of his time, unless we except the Huron Rat, that 
extraordinary man of whom Charlevoix says, " No Indian 
had ever possessed greater merit, a finer mind, more valor, 
prudence, or discernment in understanding those with whom 
he had to deal." Returning from France (where he had been 
sent a prisoner through treachery), in the same vessel with 
Count Frontenac, on his second appointment as governor- 
general of Canada, Oreliaoue became strongly attached to 
the Count, who had a great admiration for his genius, and 
always treated him with high consideration. Indeed, he 
became identified with the French cause, as against the Eng- 
lish who had in many ways sought his favor, and became 
the war leader of the Indian alhes to the crown of France. 
He died of a brief sickness, greatly lamented ; and as a token 
of his fidelity and eminent service, was buried at Quebec with 
both military and ecclesiastical honors.'^ 

I could speak of others, if less prominent, scarcelj'^ less 
gifted, among the Iroquois leaders in that critical period when 
the resources of both France and England were taxed to their 
utmost to win the Five Nations into alliance with one or the 
other of these rival powers. But it must suffice to say that 
all our knowledge of this people of the Stone Age, and their 
chosen leaders, as indicating their capacity for government 
and national achievement, only demonstrates how unsafe it 



n lb. 1671, Chap. II. 

12 See Col. Hist. N. Y., IX, 464, 5S4, 681. Also Shea's Charlevoix, IV, 151, 303, 212,846. 



FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS. 45 

is, to judge of the natui'al capacity of a race of men from the 
standpoint of archaeology, apart from the light of history. 

A simihir review of the domestic and social life of the 
Iroquois nations, for which there is now abundant material, 
is equally in their favor. It would present them as a kindly 
affectionate people, full of sympathy for their friends in dis- 
tress, considerate to their women, tender to their children, 
hospitable to strangers, persistently faithful to tlie relation- 
ship of kindred, anxious for peace, and imbued with a profound 
reverence for their national heroes and benefactors. Indeed, 
the more we know of them, through the careful studies of 
such writers as I have already indicated, the less ground 
is there for the common prejudice that they are only treach- 
erous and cruel, a race of rude and ferocious warriors skilled 
in the arts of torture, rapine and bloodshed. " The ferocity, 
craft and cruelty (says Mr. Hale) which have been deemed 
then- leading traits have been merely the natural accompani- 
ments of their wars of self preservation and no more indicate 
their genuine character, than the paint and plume and toma- 
hawk of the warrior, displayed the customary guise in which 
he appeared among his own people." We as a nation, wonld 
resent as narrow and harsh, any judgment which might be 
formed of our national character, most of all. of our domestic 
and social life, from the horrors which might be gathered 
from our late civil war, or indeed from that which secured 
our independence, instead of being measured by the purpose 
to be free, and the sacridces then freely made to preserve 
union and liberty. And fortunate will it be for the American 
people, if after two more centuries of national life, with all 
their accessories of power and dominion, the institutions we 
now cherish shall remain unimpaired; and the sentiment of 
■universal brotherhood and peace which for three hundred 
years, directed the polity and conserved the national league 
of this people of the Stone Age, shall still abide the strength 
and glory of the Republic. 



EARLY HISTORY OF FRIENDS 
IN CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



Read before the Cayuga County Historical Society, April 8th, 1880, 

BY MISS EMILY HOWLAND. 



IITSTORICAL SKETCH OF FEIENDS IN CAYUGA 
COUNTY, N. Y., 1795 TO 1828. 



As a broader, truer view is gained by retreating from our 
objeet, so the meaning of Quakerism, tlie work it has done 
in the growtli of civilization and the progress of humanity, 
can be better understood by pausing a moment at the thresh- 
old, when it, and all the outcome wliich have followed 
down the course of time, were centred in one, the illuminated 
soul of George Fox. 

Plis life began in Leicestershire, one of the northern mid- 
land counties of England, in the year before the last of the 
reign of James I, in 1624. Of his parents he speaks thus : 
" My fathers name was Christopher Fox ; he was by pro- 
fession a weaver, an honest man ; the neighbors called him 
' Eighteous Ch.rister.' My mother was an upright woman, 
and of the stock of the martyrs." 

The boy was given little of the learning of schools, he 
was apprenticed to a shoemaker, who was also a grazier. 

The latter vocation was suited to the growth of thought. 
AYhile tending the flock on his native hills, the young sliep- 
liei'd pondered the deepest questions that propound them- 
selves to the human mind. 

England at this period was in the thi-oes of Civil War. A 
tidal wave of liberty had risen beneath the throne itself, and 
shaken thence the sacred person of the king, whose " divine 
right" was to perish on the scaffold. An era of greater free- 
dom was dawning. It was a time which ripened new ideas 
rapidly, and urged them to acceptance. 



50 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

The yoang shepherd, now eighteen years old, fired by a 
rehgious entliusiasm, fostered by solitude and reading the 
Seriptures, wandered for some years in solitary places ; some- 
times he sought counsel and sympathy, but seldom found 
help; his advisers did not understand him, they thought 
him distraught, probably, and proposed activities of various 
kinds. One said, " use tobacco," another ])roposed military 
life, another mar ri cage, etc. 

Thus ever he was turned inward. In his wayfaring he 
found some sympathy. The first person who accepted and 
preached his doctrines was Elizabeth Hooton. 

In 1647 he appeared and preached in Manchester, causing 
great excitement wliich resulted in his making converts, and 
being imprisoned for a time. Tlienceforth he exhorted in 
season and out of season, the lengtli and breadth of tlie 
United Kingdom, and tried the tender mercies of the most 
of its prisons. 

Everywhere crowds followed and listened to him; a mag- 
netic |)resence and a convincing power often disarmed and 
made converts of his enemies. An intrepid bravery, an 
endurance which no })eril, and no suffering could daunt, 
piqued the admiration of jailers and courts, while a tender 
pity for all suffering and a spirit of forgiveness, divine in its 
quality, characterized him. 

In figure he was tall and massive, and his manners, to use 
the words of William Penn, were " civil beyond all forms 
of breeding." 

Such were some of the traits of the founder of Quakerism. 

What did he teach which so brought down upon him the 
wrath of the powers that were ? He taught the indwelling 
"Light of Chi'ist" in the soul of man, which if followed, 
would lead into all Truth. " Mind the Light," was his fre- 
quent exhortation. Admonished as he believed by this 
Guide, he advocated simplicity, not only in worship, but in 
all the relations of life. He thought it his duty to lay aside 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 5i 

complimentary 'practices, sucli as bowing and putting off the 
hat from respect to persons or places, also the use of the 
plural number to a single [)erson, with other flattering 
redundancies of speech. Living in this age, and in this 
country, permeated with democratic feeling, we cannot per- 
haps realize how much of the spirit of caste, one so intense 
and so \oyii] to convictions as George Fox, would detect in 
these customs of his time, and feel to be unchristian. He 
also saw that war was inct)nsistent with the peaceableness 
of Christ's kingdom. 

He taught that no intellectual training for the ministry 
was needed, and that no material compensation should be 
rendered for such service. 

His testimony against taking oaths seems to have been 
.specially exasperating to the civil authorities, and on account 
of their adherence to it, early Friends suffered more persecu- 
tion than from any other cause. 

It must have preceded his convictions in regard to war, for 
many of Cromwell's "soldiers, being followers of George Fox, 
refused, from conscientious scruples, to take the oath of alle- 
giance to his protectorate. 

His peculiar views were crowned by the belief that women 
should ])reach when moved by the Spirit, and that they 
should have co-ordinate meetings for discipline. Some of 
the brethren were strongly opposed to granting the latter 
privilege, but the mind of George Fox ])revailed, and they 
finally confessed their error with deep humility. He also 
exemplified his ideas of the rights of women to their own 
inheritance. On his marriage to the widow of Judge Fell, 
he was careful that the most chivalrous justice be meted out 
to her and her children, and liis biographer remarks, that it 
does not appear that he ever made personal use of their 
property. 

In 1689, forty-two years after George Fox's appearance 
in Manchester, there were twenty-six yearly meetings in the 



52 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

world, some of these composed of several subordinate meet- 
ings. Eleven were on the Western continent. It is thought 
the society reached its culmination in numbers and in activ- 
ity during its first century. 

In this sketch of that portion of his followers that settled 
in the southern part of our county, I shall try to give a 
glimpse of the life they lived. The civilization they planted, 
must include their places and forms of worship, their schools 
and their business. 

It is also my purpose to give the names and some of the 
traits of a few of the shining ones who have gone before to 
make a surer path for our feet. 

The employments of our rural connnunity were much 
more varied seventy years ago than they now are. Con- 
spicuous in the furniture of each farm house, were the untir- 
ing spinning-wheel with its mass of fleecy rolls pendent from 
the bar, the swifts, often the loom, the cpiaint little flax 
wheel, and the reel, a cui'ious delight to the children when 
permitted to whirl it, the snap of the spring which re})ortcd 
the knots, furnishing an excitement which never wearied. 

Instead of a trij) to Auburn, and some marvellous bargains, 
renewing the outer man and boy from top to toe, each house 
and farm were the clothing store of the family. 

On the farm grazed the sheep. The farmers took their 
fleeces, passed them to the women's hands, to be dyed, often 
carded, spun, woven and fashioned into garments, mostly 
for -the brethren, who, before the appearance of the country 
st(jre, embellished their clothing with buttons of leather, 
which I am told were not poor substitutes for tliose which 
superseded them. 

Dresses also, of pressed flannel, as handsome as that now 
worn, clothed in comfort the daughters of the past genera- 
tion. When these fabrics represented as much of the time 
and skill of the ownei's, as some of the fancy work of the 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 53 

pi'csent age does, new dresses were not eveiy-day facts, and 
were valued accordinglj. Flax also was prepared with care- 
ful weary labor, and woven in colors for wearing, or plain, 
for table-cloths, handkerchiefs, etc. This exercise of skill 
could not l)nt brighten the intelligence of the women of that 
time. An important part was enacted by them in the econ- 
omy of life, now superseded by the labor-saving inventions 
of man. 

But to the " Old Mortality " work assigned me. The moss 
has quickly overgrown what I would discover and make 
legible. 

There was immigration to this region, of members of the 
society of Friends from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long 
Island,.JSew York City, New Jerse}^ Pennsylvania and 
Dutchess, WestcHester, Saratoga and Washington Counties 
in this State. Dartmouth in Massachusetts led the marcli 
hitherward. The first Friend who found a home here 
v/as Paulina, wife of Judge Walter Wood. She came with 
lier husband to Aurora, in 1795, from White Creek, Wash- 
ington county, originally from Dartmouth. 

Judge Wood's name is still familiar as household words to 
many of us ; he possessed one of those strong characters 
which not only impress their own, but succeeding time. A 
few of us have traditions of the gentle loveliness of the wife. 

Benjamin and Mary Howland came in March, 1798, 
bringing five children, Humplirev, Martha, Mary, Harmony 
and Slocum. ' Lured by the hope of better soil than that of 
their native Dartmouth, they took the western trail in 1792, 
as far as Saratoga county in this- State. 

No;t finding the fertile land they sought, and hearing of 
the famous r Genesee Country,'\(then all western New York 
was thus designated,) they sought and found this land of 
promise. 

Snow lay on the ground ; they came in two sleighs, one 



54; HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

drawn by oxen, the other, conveying the family, by horses. 
They brcjnght flocks and herds, 20 cattle were in their train. 
Slocum Ilowland, then a little three years old boy, remembers 
peering over his wraps to watch the evolutions of the cattle. 
Benjamin Wilbur, also fi'om Dartmouth, di'ove the oxdrawn 
sleigh. My father, Slocum Howland, thinks they were more 
than a fortnight coming. Their way was impeded by snow 
iKinks; driving the sheep and cattle also retarded progress. 
At Harden burg's Corners they crossed Owasco Creek on a 
log bridge, built by the State. 

Finall_y the end of the weary journey was reached, the oxen 
unyoked, the household treasures unpacked, the children set 
free, at a place two miles west from Poplar Hidge, on the 
State i-oad coming from Cherry Valley over the Moravia hills 
and ending at the lake, at the mouth of Paine's Creek. 

There was a log house, a living spring gurgling from the 
bank of the glen before the humble home, a saw mill, and a 
cleai'ing of three acres, which a man named Wheeler had made 
and relinquished to the oi'igiiial owner, Judge Wood. From 
him ]3enj. Howland bought these improvements, with a farm 
of 135 acres, paying $4 per acre for 85 acres and $10 for the 
remaining 50. A framed house, tw^o stories high in front, 
was built without delay ; for Mary Howland, having no taste 
for rustic living, had come into the wilderness with the stip- 
ulation that she should not live in a log house, except tem- 
porarily. This house still stands, showing as little change 
as the "Deacon's onehoss shay " after its long run, and looks 
good for a century to come. The wide-throated chimney is 
just as it came from my grandfather's hands. He was a 
mason, and laid the foundations of many of the homes and 
firesides of the settlers. 

Not a little of his work stands, attesting the thoroughness 
of the worker. His business w'as in such request that he 
employed several men, receiving $3 per day for himself and 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 55 

one assistant, the highest wages paid for any work at tliat 
time, ordinary farm work receiving 50 cents per day. 

Benjamin Howland was a nuxlel pioneer; his spirit was 
strong and genial, and his kindness acknowledged all drafts. 
A proof of this, as peculiar as convincing, is that he extracted 
teeth for hapless, suffering neighbors, for whom no dentist 
lived. When his work was well done, he sometimes received 
a thank offering of words, bat if he failed, '' Uncle Ben," as 
he was familiarly styled, had to endure something more than 
ingratitude. 

Ill the front room of Benjamin and Mary Howland's new 
house the first Friend s meeting in this county was held, in 
1799. On preparative meeting occasions the men withdrew 
to the upper room. 

The following persons including the family circle, assem- 
bled twice a week : Allen Mosher and Hannah with their 
family, natives of Dartmouth ; sometimes Judge Wood and 
his wife from Aurora ; Wni. and Hannah Reynouf from New 
York ; Sylvanus and Lydia Hussey and family from Dart- 
mouth ; Content Hussey, called "Aunt Tenty," from Dart- 
mouth ; Samuel Haines from New Jersey ; John and Dinah 
Wood, Jethro and Sylvia Wood, the former son of John 
Wood, the latter, daughter of Benjamin Howland ; Joshua 
Baldwin, Elizabeth Baldwin, his mother, and Anne and 
Elizabeth, his sisters, from New York ; Isaac and Ruth Wood, 
parents of Judge and James Wood, from Dartmouth. 

Benjamin Howland set apart a burial place below his house, 
on the height above the glen. The first form laid in " its 
kindred dust " in this ground, was that of Slocum Hussey, 
in 180o. He was a son of Jonathan and Content Hussey, a 
young man of unusual promise, a student of law under Judge 
Wood's instruction. 

The meeting, after some months, was removed to Benjamin 
Wilbur's " front room," he having bought three acres from 



56 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

Benjamin Howland, and built a bouse. After a year, the 
room proving too small for the growing numbers, a log house, a 
few rods east of Benjamin Rowland's, was fitted with parti- 
tions, to be closed during meetings for discipline ; and thither 
the meeting was removed, to remain until the meeting house 
was l>uilt in 1810. 

It may be well to illustrate the church polity of the society, 
by tracing the dependenceof this little meeting upon authority, 
for its right to exist. Being within the limits of Farmington 
Monthly meeting, Ontario Co., an appeal to it for permission 
to hold a meeting, was made and granted for six months, and 
a committee appointeil to attend the "indulged" meeting, as 
it was stjded, and report. 

At the end of this probation, a preparative meeting, to 
report to Farmington, was asked for, and granted. This 
monthly meeting was subordinate to Easton Quarterly meet- 
ing, in Washington Co., and that, with other similar bodies, to 
the New York yearly meeting. In 1808 the Quartei'ly meet- 
ing assented to the request of the Scipio Friends for a monthly 
meeting, separate from Farmington. In 1810 the yeai'ly 
meeting constituted Farmington, Scipio, and DeRuyter 
monthly meetings ; a quarterly meeting to be held at Farm- 
ington and Scipio alternately. 

The quarterly meeting occupied three days, the first, being 
devoted to a consultation of Ministers and Elders, called 
select meetings ; the members of these meetings were ap- 
pointed to hold their stations, b}' the monthly meeting to 
which they belonged. Little that was said or enacted at these 
meetings w^as ever divulged to other ears. The book of dis- 
cipline gives their Queries. The third of the series for Min- 
isters and Elders, arrests attention as most pithy : " Are 
ministers sound in word and doctrine, and are they careful 
to minister in the ability that Truth gives ?" "Are unbecom- 
ing tones and gestures avoided, and do they guard against 
enlarging:; their testimonies so as to be bui-densome ?" 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIEJSTDS. 57 

The elocutioiiaiy part of this query must have often 
required exceptions to an affirmative answer. 

The niinistei's were thus subject to the criticisms of the 
elders, who were also charged vvitli responsibility for the 
good order of that portion of the Society within the jurisdic- 
tion of the Quarterly meeting to which they belonged, though 
without special authority, otlier than that given by position 
and weight of cliaract'r. 

lietui'ning to our glimps(;s of some of the characters of 
those |)ioneers who reared th.eir roof trees in the forests of the 
"Genesee Country," and first assembled here " to v/orshij) in • 
the silence of all flesh," we find next in order of coming, 
Jethro and Sylvia Wood, who came from Saratoga Co., in 
1799. TUcy found a humble home in the wood south of 
Benjamin HowlAnd's, and lived thei'C until the following year, 
when the parents, John and Dinah Wood followed, with their 
daughters, Anne, Content, Cynthia and Ilepsibeth, also their 
mai'ried daughter, Hannah Whippo and her husband, James 
Wiiippo. John Wood bought HOO acres of land at $3.50 per 
acie, extending from the road running west from Poplar 
Ridge to the next road on the south. 

About a mile west of the Ridge Road he built a commo- 
dious log house for his family, containing several rooms. 
This was never supplanted by a more pretentious dwelling. 
The sou and daughter were also allotted farms on the tract. 

In this fertile region, the rich tilth which rewarded the. 
farmers' toil, suggested to the busy brain of Jethro Wood the 
need of a better plow than the one in use, that more work 
might be done, at less cost. The exigencies of the short 
season demanded early planting. The plow in use was ex- 
pensive, and required frequent repairs. The result of his 
thought and effort, was a plow, the main principles of which, 
are still in use. The effect of this improvement in agricul- 
ture, the world over, is unending and incalculable. 



58 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

The gift of one of these plows to the Emperor of Russia, 
was acknowledged by a gold medal in return, a token of his 
ajipreciation of the value of the invention. 

Jethro Wood in social life, was genial and kind; unlike 
the ways of his sober sect, he did not repress the unfailing 
humor which provoked many an auvvilling smile. 

John Wood was a man of ability. He served as State 
Senator, despite the restrictions of the Society in regard to 
holding office, and was a valued friend of David Thomas. 

Dinah Wood was a native of Nantucket. Her maiden 
name was Starbuck, a niece of Ann Starl)uck, noted in the 
annals of that island for being at one time, practically, its 
chief ruler. Resembling her aunt in executive ability, she 
knew how to bring comfort and luxury out of the as})erities 
of an early settler's life. A lady, from whom the writer asked 
reminiscences, a daugliter of Abial Mosher, (who with his 
family, made the journey from Saratoga Co., in the winter 
of 1802), says, that they accepted the hospitality of John and 
Dinah Wood, while their father retraced his way to a place 
where the snow had obliged him to leave his sheep. For ten 
days no word came from the father. Meantime, they were 
enjoying the glowing open fire in Aunt Dinah's sitting room, 
and faring sumptuously. 

In the spring it was her custom to superintend sugar-mak- 
ing in the forest ; at that time the farm furnished the sugar. 
She was fond of needle-work, if she had lived in these 
days, decorative art and lace-making would doubtless have 
been among her pursuits. 

Their daughter Anne taught school, the second teacher of 
my father. She died in her youth. 

Among the young men of that period was Humphrey 
Howland, a youth of eighteen years. Energetic and ambi- 
tious, he became surveyor of lands for Judge Lawrence, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 59 

E(jbci-t Troiijt, Samnel Parsons, Richard Hart, and otliers, of 
New York City. In this business he traversed with cliain 
and compass a large part of Cayuga, Tompkins and Cort- 
kand Counties, ^j'his life was attended with hardships, well 
seasoned with incidents, pathetic or curious, that beguiled 
weariness, and gave him many reminiscences for after years. 
Here is one showing the bill of fare sometimes ofi'cred in 
those (lays. He partook of a meal, where neither fish, flesh 
nor fowls, milk, bread, eggs, nor even salt, made a part of 
the repast " What could it be ?" do you ask. Beech leaves 
and vinegar. 

In 1812, Humphrey Howland was a member of Assembly 
from this District, and his departure from the order of the 
Society of Friends, in accepting this preferment, is anon- 
ymously mentioned in its record. 

Sylvanus and Lydia Ilussey, and their family of four sons 
and two daughters, from Dartmouth, Mass., settled a mile 
and a half east of Aurora, on a farm now owned by their 
gi'andson. After living some years in primitive style, they 
built a framed house which was destroyed by fire. This they 
re}>laced by the one now standing, constructed of cobble 
stones. They were superior people ; Lydia Hussey, a woman 
of strength of character and fine qualities, lived nearly a 
century. 

The venerable Isaac and Ruth Wood were devoted and 
exemplary adherents of their faith, constant at meeting. He 
sat at the head, and determined tlie length of the meeting by 
shaking hands with his wife who sat at his right, and some- 
times broke the reverent waiting silence by her words of coun- 
sel and exhortation. He gave three acres of ground for the 
future meeting-house and burial place, and by will (in 1815 
probably) left a legacy of $100 to the Society for the relief 
of the poor, to be dispensed as it might see fit With judi- 
cious use, this sum lasted years; portions of it may still be 



(id lll;nol!IC \1, MKICI'i'll OK I'UIKNliH, 

til Mil!', till' will ol I li«' 1 loll. 11' 'riii> kI her \v> It'll lie; i, wlio ilij'iii 
I'll'. I lliiM hull' !r-i;u'iiil>l\ l>\ llu'ir |M'(';itMii'i\ li;i\t< Willi lli.'r 
nlril, Irll pi rrimiM liu'lin >ni':i <>l iMunl ;ilul il;.('l'lll li\i>M. 

All I'Vi'iil i>l \;ilih' I.' llic llllli' ('hLmin w;i;i llic roliiili;' of 

I >;i\ I.I 'rihiiiKi;; ;iinl lil.i l;iiiill\ llviii I ,\ « . .nil ii>' ( '. v , IVmiiI,, ill 
ISOjt, 'riitMi' lir.Ml Ihmih' \V!i;i «'ii llu" r.Knl w.'.l.il W Iu>oI(M''.s 

Conirl'H, IMilill !linl lllllllMc, llM UClMlpMlll.l WiMi' rl 1 1 1 1 \ 11 1 (H I 

aihl ii IiihmI. Sii.Ii ji iiiiiii I'. Mill! ii.il nn;i;it llio I'iill l.> Ifjicli. 
AtU'ordlliy.l V, f^O{\\\ nllci' llic iljili" «>l IiIm .HMiiiiii'^, he opriH'il ;i 
;n'llool ill n K>^', lioiu-iO, WOMI, IUhI ;.oiilli .>| IV'pliir lviil;M\ ( >iu' 
of liiM |>il|>ilH lllU;^ »lo,»<orilu»H iIh' .'U'IiooI loniii : " Till" Willi' 
iii.'iillii'il liro pliii't* \V!>,s |>ilo(l with lo).\M fiMii' I'ot'l. loii^' rnrli 
iii.M iiiii".',, .'illiMiliii!^', !i llro wliioh iu'imIi'iI mo ronK'ni.-^liin^" ft>r llu* 

.hi\ Tlir lillli'oliivi wiM'o sivili'il lUi low I«.'iu0»«*8 HjiJ,"uin.Mt, I lio 
rliiiiiiii'\ , 'r;iMo;; ;iinl lnMirlir.-i \v ll iioiil, |i;n'ks wtMO i'linUMln'il 
lln' oM(M' ,shnltMils" III ilii' \ ii;il iii!ill»M' of |uir<M>ir, llii'so 
I'luli* appoiuliuoiilH f;ii' I'M'.'lli'.l ilio l»(V'-i| liltoil school room 
of llio prosiMil limo, mill il woiil.l hi- s|i';ni",o if llio \oiiilifiil 
l>i;iiii iliil iiol work l>rl!iM' ill lliMl il;i\. lliaii il is possiMo for 

II (.> ilo 111 iliis. 

( >iio opisoilo iiillio lil'oof lliis(lii:^iiiriril iiinii, rolatoil l>v ilio 
|»ujm1 I'itod iiUovo, i.<A ^'ivtM>, hooauso iJluslralivo i»f th<^ priiiii 
livi^ ways of iholiiuo. hii\ i»l 'rhou\!>ssp»Mil sovt^pil »woninr,s 
Willi liiM' fallior, AlMal Moshrr, inakiiiv--, lu^MiKIs aitil niiiiiiu;-', 
luUtous of powtiM', foi- a suit of ololhos, Slu^ lliiiik.-! tlio 
mouliliug was »lono in ohalK. . 'V\\o ImiIIohs for ilio coal 
woro as lai'jj^o as a twoutv Hvt^ ^hmU pitHH\auil for ilio \cst ilio 
Hii^^tUifa shilliug. Slu^ rouiciul^iM-s ilio ImiIIous wtM'o a surocss, j 

An ossav on ll»o lifo of this ilishnf^uislunl man luas boon ' 
h:»vo\> von fl^Mn an aMiM" ptM\ llian w\\u\ Wni I wonM fain 
rouiliM' mv InlMiio of vM'aiihhlo to on«^ whoso honollo<M>t, nso 
fnl hfo has hlossoil ns all, NoMo. onllni\^l. philanthn^pii' ! 
Tho vonih of this ovmutrv shouKI, llu\>n^'h all liino. »'horish 
his moniorv, US tlu\Y onjo^Y tho oIuuvh> iVniM that ho in(i\>ilnooil 



iii,M'i'<»iiir,\i, MK h;'r<;ii oh' I'Iiimnds. 



(11 



,'111(1 (•;iii;('(| III :iliiiiiii(| ; aiid iJic (Idi'isl. rciiiciiilici- lJi:il, A/.s I'os- 
Iciiiiy IkiihI liii iii;'lil, liillicr .111(1 Iciidcd iii;iiiy (if ( mr ;i^lir(l(!ll 
lic;iiil ic;:, wlillc III,'. Ii(il;iiilc;il L ik ivv Ici lyr hiiiylil, ii.s l.licir <u»|'n'cl, 
li;iliic;i. Ill,; ililci'(';i|.:i Ucrc lltil Ik illli(lc(| 1 1\ ;;i'c|, (ir V( ic;iU( iii ; 
licmi, iiilliifiicc :ili(| inc;iii;; were jMV'i'li l(> iJic li;it('(l y\iit,l 
Sl;i\('r\ ciiiiMc, vvlii'li III lie :iii .'il k il ilii iiii:l ici |iiir('( I ,S( iiiii'vvli;il, 
(if I lie iii;ii'f\' I' S|iil'il. 

Ill Ihc ;i|ii in;', -if I.SOV, ,I(k;c|iIi :iii(| S;ir;ili 'r;illc.if, wifli llicir 
.SdliM, K'i(li;ii(l :iii(| I >;ilii('l, ;ili(l (l;i,ll;j,lil.('l'S, II.'IIIikiIi niid riu'lic, 
iii(i\('(l III fidiii I )iilcli('M.s ('(iiiiily, niid scl.llcd diic foiirlJi of ii, 
mile iKHlli of r>cii|. I low hind's. ,lo;;t'|ili 'r.-illcol lii-oiiidil, lo 
lliiM \(iiiii" lir;iii('li of lli('Soci('f\ :i fcr\ ciit spirif, ;iii(| ;iii im 
!i\V('i'\ 111"; (|i'\olioii to 111;; l;iitli, wliicli st'ciiicd to rule cn ('r\' 
,s|('|i III llic ;;lr;ii;dif ;iiid ii:irid\v \v;i\ of liis Ion:' life. lie felt 
n'l'fni iiitcrcsf ill ciliic'il loll ;ii III in llic Irniniii!'' of clnldrcn, .•ind 
iissisti'd in foiindiii" ;U'\i'r;d scliools in lii,! S(U'ii'f\'. P'or scn 
oriil V(';ii;; Ik" I'liMislicd |i(>ri()dic:ils, :il dilln-cnl. limes, cnfilJcd 
'"rii.> li'iicndiv \'i;;il;iiil," " Tlic Cliild's ('(iiii|):iiiioii," :iii(l 
" Tlu' Aconi," coiihiiiiiii" ^',||(•|| iiior;il ;iiid rcli" ions lessons as 
lie llioiD'lil ;;lioiild he men le:iled. lie f|-ei|neiil I \' visiled |Jh> 
|iiili|ie seliools lor miles aidnnd liis liome, and seallei'ed his 
111 I le liooks. 'riie cause ol leiii| leranee enli:s|ed liiiii, and in 
iSh) lie was nio\ ("d lo |ii'e|>ai'e what lie IitiikmI " A serious 
and alleet loiKile addr>'ss lo I lie pious and mlliuMilial pai'l of 
llie eommunilv in \\ Cslern New ^'o|■|^, relali\(" lo ardeiil 
^;pirlb;" 'riio appeal is I'oreiMe and eloipieut. Tlie follow 
111" IS I lie ,';lattMueiili <>\ I lie causes w liieli led liiiii lo I liis act ion, 
and I lu- meidenl.'; allendiii;',' il ; " The siimuuM' of lSi(! was 
an unusii.Mllv cold Si>asoii, which (Mil llie laop of Indian corn 
short, so that thci'cwas a scarcil\ of vraiii in mam places ihe 
follow 111" w iiiltM'. A I I lu> sanu> I iine I he disi illeries w (M'c kepi 
111 (ipcraluMt, wliili" llie po(>r found il dilVuMill lo pi-oeiir(> 
wlial hn^adstnlT llic\' uecded for I heir fauiilii>s." 



62 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

"The circamstances affected me not a little, and induced 
me to write an address to the sober and influential part of 
the community, inviting them to a serious consideration of 
the melancholy situation, and the evils and calamitous con- 
sequences of intemperance. I insisted that nothing short of 
the example of that part of society which gives haljits to the 
world, of abstaining altogether from the use of ardent spirits, 
except for medical purposes, would correct this alarming 
evil. I had no plan in view for giving publicity to my com- 
munication. I read it to some individuals as opportunities 
occurred. I learned that a Synod of Presbyterian clergymen 
was shortly to be held at Geneva. It occurred to me that a 
body of serious, influential men would be convened there, 
and were I to attend, I might have a favorable opportunity to 
promote my design." Then follows an account of disap- 
pointment in regard to a friend to go with him, and of his 
trepidation and faltering before the ordeal. " In the morn- 
ing," he says, "I found my way to the house of Henry 
Axtel, the Presbyterian clergyman of that place. His breth- 
ren from the surrounding country soon began to come into 
the village, and call on him for instruction where they might 
find entertainment among their friends. The master of the 
house appeared very hospitable, inviting them to partake of 
his brandy, which they did, with what would be thought 
moderation. He turned to me and pleasantlj- said, he 'su])- 
posed it would be useless to invite me to jtartake,' consid- 
ering my business. I as pleasantly replied, that 'we had 
been in the same habit, but seeing the evil of it, we had 
abandoned it,' and I hoped they would do the same." The 
result of Joseph Tallcot's concern was, that he was invited 
to read his address before a committee of the Synod ; the 
committee in its report, approved of its being read before the 
whole body. This he did, and says : " After- the reading 
they invited me again into the committee room, and asked 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF P^RIENDS. 63 

me many questions, dcsiiing me to use entire freedom in 
making any remarks I wished, as it was a new subject to 
them, and I could probably suggest a course that would be 
pro[)er for them to take. I told them I had now accom- 
plished what I conceived duty had required, and as they 
were men of understanding, I should feel satisfied to leave 
them to take their own course. The marks of sympathy I 
received from this respectable body, and the accommodating 
disposition they manifested toward me, in my lonely and 
peculiar position, I hope ever to remember with gratitude. 

A few days after returning home I received a paper con- 
taining my address, together with the resolutions of the 
Synod fully aj)proving it, and solemnly declaring that, from 
that time, they would abandon the use of ardent spirits 
except for medical purposes; that they would speak against 
its common use from the pulpit ; that they would seek for 
and give preference to laborers who would comply with their 
views on the subject, and use their influence to prevail with 
others to follow their example." 

This incident has been dwelt upon at more length because 
the subject which Joseph Tallcot had at heart is one of vital 
interest to earnest people to-day. Sarah Tallcot was recom- 
mended as a minister in 1808, and accompanied by her hus- 
band, took long journeys to make religious visits and attend 
meetings in different parts of the State and in Canada. 

The practice of the Society ot" furnishing its preachers 
with certificates to travel and hold meetings, led to a variety 
of valuable results. It tended toward raising all sections of 
the society to the same level, by making meetings and indi- 
viduals known to each other. Each member knew or might 
know the names of some of the prominent Friends in every 
meeting in the world. A Friend coming from England 
knowing that " Young America" had no picture books, was 
careful to bring a goodly store, to the joy of child liood. 



64 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

Some ai-e now in the writer's possession, the gifts to her mother 
from a ministering friend who came to America in 1801. 

Their son, Richard Tallcot began the mercantile business 
in his early youth in Aurora. In 1812 he established him- 
self at Ledyard, at the place which still bears his name, and 
remained there until 182;"), when he removed to Skaneateles. 
He was an upright, bei^.evolent man, a good citizen and strong 
in the faith of his fathers. 

The other participants in the affairs of these first meetings, 
whose names appear, were Ruth Irish and Susanna Dennis, 
and John Winslow and his family, from Dartmouth, via 
White Creek. They came about 180-1. Samuel and Eliza- 
beth Willetts from New Jersey in 1805. Jacob and Katy 
Haight, Greorge West who lived in Fleming and had a ride 
of twelve miles or more to meeting, John Bowen, Henry Pear- 
sail, Isaac Haight and Welcome Mosher, the last named 
from Dartmouth. He had been disowned for joining the 
army of the revolution, having returned to the peaceable 
ways of his fathers, he was by his request restored to mem- 
bership and remained a valued member the rest of his days. 

Turning to the [)ages of the old record of Scipio monthly 
meeting, we learn that tlie first assenably of the kind was 
held "the 11th of 4th month, 1808." 

That Joseph Tallcot was made clerk of the men's meeting, 
and Hannah Whippo, of the women's. Both were re-ap- 
pointed annually for eight years. 

The women's meeting a])p()inted its own officers, received 
reports from its subordinate meetings, dealt with its offend- 
ing mendocrs and had its own treasury for charitable purposes. 

It could not issue or receive certificates of membership, 
nor disown nor receive members without the ratification of 
the men's meeting. The men were not thus restricted, yet 
all action in which both bodies were mutually interested, 
being officially reported to the women, and thus recorded, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 65 

" women friends concurring therein, "^ — we see they bad the 
rights of protest and of non-concurrence. 

At these meetings the secular and other interests of the 
Society were considered, also cases of delinquent members ; 
the queries were read and their answers pondered. The 
former are subjoined, to give an idea of the plain living and 
higli tliinking required of this peculiar people: 

" 1st Query. Are Friends careful to attend all our meet- 
ings for religious worship and discipline ; is the hour ob- 
served ; and are they clear of sleeping and of all other unbe- 
coming behaviour? 

"2d Query. Are love and unity maintained as becomes 
bretln-en ; if differences arise, is due care taken speedily to 
end them ; and do Friends avoid and discourage tale-bearing 
and detraction? 

" 8d Query. Are Friends careful to keep themselves, 
their own, and other Friends' children under their care, in 
plainness of speech, behaviour and apparel, and do they en- 
deavor by example and precept to train them up in a relig- 
ious life and conversation, consistent with our Christian 
profession ? Are the Scriptures of Truth frequently read 
in Friends' families, and do they extend adue care in these 
respects towards others under their tuition? 

"4th Query. Do Friends avoid and discourage the use of 
distilled spirituous liquors, excepting for purposes strictly 
raeclicinal ; and are they clear of frequenting taverns and of 
attending places of diversion ?" 

In one instance in 1810, the answer to this query concern- 
ing intoxicants, says, "clear as far as appears, unless using 
spirituous liquors at raisings be considered an exception." 
In a time when building was common, these exceptions 
afforded a good deal of latitude. It is encouraging to see 
how much the present prevailing ideal and practice here are 
in advance of the reach of the most temperate people, seventy 



6Q HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

years ago. No doubt due to the faithful work done by them. 

"5th Query. Are the circumstances of the poor, and of 
those who appear likely to require assistance, duly inspected ; 
is relief seasonably afforded them, and are they advised and 
assisted in such employments as they are capable of ; and are 
their children, and all others under our care, instructed in 
school learning, to fit them for business? 

" 6th Query. Do any keep company with persons not of 
our Society, on account of marriage ; do parents connive at 
their keeping company with such, and do any attend the 
marriages of those who go out from us, or marriages accom- 
plished by a priest? 

" 7tli Query. Are Fi-iends clear of bearing arms, of com- 
plying with military requisitions, and of pa3nng any fine or 
tax in lieu thereof ? 

" 8th Query. -Are there any deficient in performing their 
promises, or paying their just debts ; do any extend their 
business beyond their ability to manage, as becomes our 
religious profession ; and are those who give occasion for fear 
on these accounts, timely labored with, for their preservation 
and recovery ? 

" 9th Query. Is care taken seasonably to deal with of- 
fenders in the spirit of meekness, and agreeably to discipline ? 

" 10th Query. Are the answers to the queries forwarded 
by subordinate meetings, the substance of, and founded on, 
the answers from the preparative meetings?" 

The answers to the above were made every quarter by the 
overseers to the preparative meeting, thence referred to, read, 
acted on, and recorded by the monthly meeting ; thence, 
through the same process, by the quarterly meeting ; and 
lastly, they went to the yearly meeting, where they rested in 
the archives of the Society. 

If those of us who once listened twelve times in the year 
to these questions, which sometimes involved criticisms of 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 67 

our lives, have not verified Solomon's wise saying, it has not 
been thi'ough lack of training. 

In scanning these records from 1808 to 1822, but nine 
cases of disownment for other causes than "marrying out,'' 
are discovered. On every page appears an infraction of the 
discipline in this regard. This inflexibility lost the Society 
many members. 

One of the nine unfaithful accc])tcd the post of paymaster 
in the army, in the war of 1812, and was disowned therefor, 
in these words : 

" C. A., having had a right of membership with us, but 
not taking heed to the manifestations of Truth in his own 
heart, has so far deviated from the peaceable principles of our 
Souncty, as to be employed in the army ; we therefore disown 
him from being any longer a member with us, until by 
amendment of life, he makes satisfaction for his outgoing." 

Certificates of removal were furnished all members by the 
meeting they left, addressed to the one within whose limits 
they settled. These papers, prepared by committees ap- 
pointed to investigate the affairs of persons removing, stated 
that they were members, had settled their temporal concerns 
satisfactoril}', etc. If such a report could not be truthfully 
made, the reason was stated. A communication from Dart- 
mouth advised, in regard to a member it had sent, that his 
acknowledgment of wrong in suing another Friend, before 
be left, should not be accepted unless he refunded the costs 
of the suit. It is pleasant to know that he was equal to the 
test, and complied with the requirement. Another trait of 
the Society, was care to be temperate in the use of language. 
Tlie desire not to overstate, often led to the use of the nega- 
tive form of expression ; thus, in reporting a visit to a re- 
quester, " The Committee does not find but that his life and 
convei'sation are, in a good degree, orderly." 



68 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

All cases of imprisonment or distraint for testimony 
against war were reported annually. 

Besides the queries already cited, there was a word of 
counsel for as many of the exigencies of life as could be 
generalized. There were advices against reading pernicious 
books, for moderation on festive and all other occasions, in 
the furniture of the house and in the manner of living, on 
the necessity of being provided with " correctly written wills, 
disposing of property according to justice, that harmony in 
families might be promoted." 

Friends were desired to avoid any act by which the right 
of slavery might be acknowledged, and were admonished in 
these terms, to remember those who had been held as slaves : 
" The state of those who have been held as slaves, by Friends, 
or by their predecessors, calls for serious inquiry and close 
examination, how far they are clear of withholding from 
them or their children, that assistance which may be found 
to be their just rights; and the descendants of those Friends 
who have held them in bondage, are affectionately entreated 
to attend to the openings of duty on this subject." 

" Even if no such obligations to this people existed amongst 
us, it is worthy of serious consideration, whether there is 
any object of beneficence more deserving of attention, than 
that of training up the youth of this injured part of the 
human family, in such virtues, principles and habits, as may 
render them useful and respectable members of the com- 
munity." 

Listen to this counsel, the purest ethical science : " Friends 
are advised to be cautious in receiving collections or bequests 
for the use of the poor, or for other purposes of Society, 
from persons who have fallen short of the payment of their 
just debts, although they may be legally discharged by the 
voluntary act of their creditors ; for, until such persons have 
discharged their debts, their possessions cannot, in equity, 
be called their own." 



HISTOEICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 69 

Here is advice which it would seem might interfere with 
love of country : but patriotic feeling being so instinct with 
self-love, has not probably suffered much loss in consequence. 
" Should any disregard the concern of the Society and accept 
a post of profit and honor in government, he is not to be 
appointed in any services in the church, nor his collections 
received." Those who did not heed were reported annually. 
Probably but one of the three divisions of the Society in this 
country has retained these queries and advices in form and 
substance as then read. 

The subject of a suitable meeting house claimed the early 
attention of th.e growing settlement A gift of three acres 
of ground for this pur[)ose, and for a burial place, had been re- 
ceived. Neither steam nor electricity then infused the spirit 
of hurry into all human doings. So we need not be sur- 
prised that a year and more passed, before a committee, 
charged with the matter of procuring a deed for the land, 
finally obtained a correct form for such a paper, and com- 
pleted the work. 

It had been decided in 1809, to build a house S-i feet by 
50, the posts 22 feet, at an estimated cost of $1,800. This 
decision was referred to the quarter!}^ meeting, and passed 
thence to that department of the yearly meeting called the 
meeting for sufferings, which promptly replied that the 
project was on much too grand a scale, the house too large, 
too costlj^ The reason for this reference to authority lay 
in the fact that the yearly meeting paid a third or more, as 
the need might be, of the cost of building all the meeting 
houses in its jurisdiction, from a fund raised by tax on all 
its subordinate meetings, and in this way controlled any 
tendencies to extravagant ideas. 

Scipio meeting was sure it undei"stood its own need, and 
proceeded with its plan. Aaron Baker, the builder, (a Friend 
who came from New York), before beginning, estimated the 



70 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

cost of the bouse proposed, at $1,700. It was a nice calcu- 
lation, for the actual cost was $ i ,728.29. The sum of $1,698.29 
was assured, to begin, so there was a debt at the end, of $30, 
not heavy ; but the taxation for building houses iti other 
parts of the State was constant; as no church debts were 
permitted, tlie money was pledged, before the house was 
begun. 

As this house came from the hands of the builders in 1810, 
such it is to-day, save that the tints of the unpainted interior 
are mellowed by time. The yesthetic sense may not delight 
in the architecture of a Friends' meeting house, but if there 
be beauty in the fitness of things, then it can claim recogni- 
tion by the canons of taste, for are not its bareness, its sim- 
plicity, typical of the nakedness of the soul in the presence 
of the great "I Am?" The unpainted benches and parti- 
tions of construction severely simple, and the bare floor, 
were all in harmony with the sober color, the stiffness of 
shape, and the absence of all ornament in the dress of those 
who worshipped within its walls. The form of the edifice, 
though not pleasing to the eye, gives in material shape, one 
of the distinctive principles of the Society, the equality of 
men and women in affairs of the church ; the square build- 
ing being convertible at will, into two equal rooms, where 
these co-ordinate bodies deliberate separately. 

Soon after the completion of the house the need of a school 
house was considered, and ultimately one was built near the 
meeting house, where a school was held for a quarter of a 
century or more. -Interest in the subject of education never 
wavered. The committee in charge of the schools (there 
were three under its supervision, with an average attendance 
of 80, though often many more), took its subscriptions in 
1812 for school books, which they bought of the publishei's, 
Samuel Wood and others. Alas, the list of books ordered is 
not given. Murray's excellent English Reader and Gram- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 71 

rn;u', it is safe to say, were included. These books wcie 
ali'orded at reduced prices to parents, and some extra copies 
were useful to those children, either Friends or not, who 
were too poor to buy. 

Whatever their text books and curriculum were, the 
young j^irls who came from these schools " formed in 1816 
a society for mutual improvement, meeting in the school 
house at stated times to read original essays." Writes one 
who was of the number, " A few years later, an older com- 
pany of both sexes, were in the habit of meeting at each 
others' homes for similar })urposes, adding to the literary 
part, some other matters, such as the study of botany." Tiicy 
had a book club, buying to read such books as Zimmerman, 
Lord Chesterfield's letters, Cowper's Task, etc. Summing 
up the additions to the society by immigration and request, 
from the year 1808, when the monthly meeting was instituted, 
to 1822, we obtain the following statement : 

In 1808, twenty -four members were added ; of the number 
was Martha Tupper who joined the Society and afterwards 
became a valued minister. 

In 1809 there were thirty-five added. Of these was Jas. 
McLauglilin from Ireland, who entered by request. One who 
remembers hira. describes him thus : " He wore long hose 
and knee buckles, and always walkett to meeting, near or 
far ; on monthly meeting days, the distance was ten miles. 
He was a sort of preacher of the olden time, not recommended 
by the meeting." ''Truth, justice and mercy, my friends. 
Show me an honest man, and I will show you a Christian," 
was sometimes his sermon. Some prosy speaker once drew 
this criticism on his hapless head. "There are persons who 
can say more in a single sentence than others do in a long 
harangue," the "r" being rolled with effect. He was a ventril- 
oquist, but from scruples of conscience, rarely used his 
power. It is said that once in his presence two boys were 



72 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

plying their fists on each other, when a voice descending, as 
they thouglit from above, caused fists suddenly to lose their 
force, and the grasp, its hold of the antagonist. 

Asa Potter, from Uxbridge, Mass., also came in 1809; he 
was an active and useful member. 

In 181-i, he and his wife, Ruth Potter, opened a select 
school for girls in their own house, of which Phila Aldrich 
was teacher. They afterward removed to Aurora, where 
Cynthia and S(-»phia Southwick were the teachers. An 
indulged meeting was held there for the accommodation of 
the school. Young ladies, not members of the Society, 
were placed in the institution. This school was destined to 
mould characters which should shine in the highest walks of 
social life, and influence for good, the affairs of the nation. 
Judge Miller, of Auburn, whose ancestors were Friends, 
placed his daughters — Lisette, afterward Mrs. Alvah Woixlen, 
and Frances Adelaide, afterward Mrs. William II. Seward — 
under the care and training of these Friends. Those whose 
privilege, it was to know these noble sisters, in their life at 
the Capital, can realize how unique and powerful a force 
they were ; interested in the reforms proposed and agitated 
by the advanced minds of the time, they moved on the 
troubled sea of Washington life, during eighteen years of 
the darkest and most -eventful period of the Nation's history. 

Mrs. Worden, with a wit keen as a Damascus blade, 
would pierce the sophistries of the enemies of human freedom, 
charming while she demolished. Severely plain in their 
dress, .one delighted by her brilliant conversational power, 
the other refreshed by a beautiful and saintly presence, and 
an ever ready sympathy. Thoroughly conversant with the 
politics of the day, they cheered a wearied Sumner, whos<j 
principles closed other homes to him, or discussed the cause 
of Woman with a distinguished foreign guest, — welcomed and 
gladdened a lonely teacher, or listened to the appeal of some 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 73 

poor llacliel grieving for cliiklren enslaved. Even animals 
basked in the glow of their kindness and love. 

Thus all things found place, in the rounded fullness of their 
lives. 

Aaron Baker and his family from New York City, came 
in 1809. 

Wilbur and Susanna Dennis requested for their childi-en 
Cyrus, Ann Eliza, and Seneca. 

In 1810 the number added was fifty-seven including adults 
and children. Of- these Jonathan and Sarah Swan are best re- 
membered. He was engaged in mercantile atTairs in Aurora 
until 1820. Their home was one of the social centres of their 
time. 

In 1811 thei'c were thirty-two arrivals, of these, the names 
whicli some of us may recognize, are Peleg and Eunice 
Wiiite, the latter of whom died two years ago, having lived 
a century ; William S., and Eliza Burling, and Sarah T., 
wife of Humphry Rowland. William S. Burling and Sarali 
T. Rowland were clerks of the Monthly Meetings of the men 
and women respectively, for years. 

In 1812, thirty were added, of whom one, Wm. Green.* 
now lives at Union Springs. Anothei-, Elizabeth, second 
wife of Aaron Baker, a woman of much excellence, died a 
few years ago at the age of ninety-live. 

In 1818, twenty-seven arrived. Among these were John 
and Elizabeth Earl from Rhode Island, and Gardiner and 
Ehoda AVainer of Dartmouth. Gardiner Wainer, was a 
nephew of the celebrated colored sea captain and philantliro- 
pist, Paul Cuffee. 

In 1814, the whole number of arrivals was fifty. Thomas J. 
and Mary Alsop, came in this year. The few years following 
their marriage, were spent in his native town of Hudson. But 
Mary, who was a daughter of Benjamin Rowland, yearncvi for 
the home of her youth, so they removed to Cayuga. Not long 

* Since deceased. 



74 UlSTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

after, Tliomas Alsop opened a store at Sberwootl in partner- 
ship with Ilumphry Ilowland. Unlike the common prac- 
tice of the store-keepers of that time, they b(^re their testi- 
mony against drinking ardent spirits, by not furnishing it to 
customers. In 1821 they left the business, succeeded in it 
by Slocum Rowland, and settled on a farm four miles west 
of Scipioville. Their home was a vei'itable Boffin's Bower. 
A genial influence radiated from its founders, who welcomed 
and sheltered the homeless, treated lovingly the boys of the 
neighborhood, who found here a spot where they felt them- 
selves not "in the way," and so wrapped the congenial guest 
in its atmosphere of cheerful good-will that a visit there gave 
a foretaste of the ideal home. 

Phebe Field, from Westchester County, claims special 
mention, she being a moi'e than ordinary preacher and a 
woman of influence. 

In 1815, forty-five were added by arrivals and requests. 
This reminiscence is from one of the former, a daughter of 
Cornelius and Abigal Weeks, who came from Cape Cod, 
Mass. The journey occupied twenty-seven days ; coming 
in the winter they reached the end of the dreary pilgrimage 
on the last day of the year, 1814. The roads west from 
Albany were bad. The wagon broke at Oneida, and they 
were obliged to take shelter in a wigwam, while it was 
mended. The mother drove, and the father and two young 
men in company, Thomas and James Hoxie, walked. (The 
last named with his wife, still lives where they established 
themselves on their marriage in 1820.) After their arrival 
the daughter was sent to the school, under the auspices of 
the meeting, taught by Cornelius and Joseph Wing. There 
were thirty or forty pupils. The range of study was not 
extensive, but included some grammar. 

In 1816, only sixteen arrivals are recorded. Of these, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 75 

John E. Williams of Rhode Island, was well known to some 
of us. 

In 1817, the eastern part of the State sent twelve to the 
growing settlement. 

In 1818, twelve came from Amawalk, Galvvay, Sandwich 
and Little Egg Harbor. 

In 1819, thirty-two arrived, among these Lydia Philadelphia 
Mott, of English })arentage, and named for the city where the 
family fimnd a home. She was roared in the Episcopal Church, 
and the simple ways of her adopted sect were but a tliin dis- 
guise, which rather heightened the effect of the culture and 
grace which careful training gives to the upperclasses of Eng- 
land. She was an admirable teacher and a preacher ; a mem- 
ber of Scipio monthly meeting, though she lived and taught 
in Skaneateles, calling her school " The Hive." She had a 
genius for benevolence. Her sympathy for suffering never 
slumbered, nor did any need find her aid wanting. 

In 1820 fifteen were added. Susanna Marriott was one 
of this number. She came from near New York, and took 
the school in Auroi'a, once in charge of Asa and Ruth Pot- 
ter. The coming of this rare teacher and remarkable wo- 
man was an event in the history of this part of the county, 
from which few persons now living here do not derive ben- 
efit, either directly or indirectly. Indeed the importance of 
the event extended to a wide circle beyond the county ; one 
might say, it marked an era in Western New York. Many 
who have since graced the cultured walks of life as teachers, 
writers, or in society, were her pupils, and all cherish her 
memory with a fervency mingled with awe, seldom equaled 
in similar relations in life. The salient trait of her charac- 
ter was strength ; but she was much besides ; she was large- 
hearted, philanthropic, just, loving, though often stern. She 
gave the rare opportunities her school afforded for higher 
education, to many who could not have otherwise enjoyed them 



76 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

providing both board and tuition for such assistance as they 
coukl render in the househokl, "which" as one o£ her benefi- 
ciaries remarks, " was no more than I needed for exercise." 
This lady writes of telling the venerable teacher, years after, 
how grateful she felt for the rare chance she had enjoyed. 
The reply was, that though she had helped hundreds in that 
way, it liad been no pecuniary loss, but "perhaps the oil and 
the meal had been blessed on that account." She had a 
varied life ; born and educated in England, and orphaned 
in early youth. A sea voyage being recommended for im- 
paired health, she came to America in 1793, in the company 
of Deborah Darby and Rebecca Young, ministering Friends. 
She was then seventeen years old. The yellow fever pre- 
vailing in Philadelphia, she tarried on Long Island until it 
had subsided, and then removed to that city, where she was 
active in all charitable work. Her cousin, James Ecroyd, 
moved to the wilds of Pennsylvania, called the "Beech 
Woods." She accompanied him to attend to his domestic 
concerns, and she endured the privations of frontier life 
with a brave, cheerful spirit. Afterward in caring for her 
brother's large family of motherless children, her unusual 
powers and gifts for the teaching and for the discipline of 
youth, were developed. Thus was her vocation discovered ; 
thenceforth she taught, until nearly fourscore. In some 
instances three generations v^ere her pupils. She espoused 
the anti-slavery cause at its beginning, with ardor, and was 
a reader of the Liberator for years. By most careful absti- 
nence, she bore her testimony against using the products 
of slave labor. She once told the writer that she was impli- 
cated in the wrong only in the use of paper ; this was una- 
voidable, and, being made of cotton which had done one 
work, cost no increase of unrequited toil. She loved ani- 
mals ; the cultivation of flowers was a delight to her — proba- 
bly the first verbena in a country garden was a scarlet, which 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. li 

grew a mass of brilliant bloom for lier — the wallflowers, and 
the daisies too, figui-ed in long array, in memory of the English 
home. Dr. Alexander Thompson, one of the best florists 
and botanists of his day, said he owed his taste in this direc- 
tion, to her. 

This sketch of one of the best educators of her time must 
suffice. Could less be said where so much more is merited? 
When the world learns that faithful teachers are its best 
benefactors, the story of snch lives will be told and ti'casured 
with care. 

In 1821, twenty-three arrivals are noted. Among these 
were the young man, now the venerable Matliias Ilutcliinson, 
and his parents, from Buckingham, Pennsylvania. A letter 
from him on Christmas day last, in a hand as perfect as 
cop}>er-platc, says ; " I am eighty-four years old to-day. lu 
the spring of 182 L I moved with my parents to Bradley's, 
now called Northville. lu the fall of 1819 I traveled through 
tins section of the country, making a journey of 1,940 miles 
on horseback." Further on he bears testimony to the good 
sermons he heard from Phebe Field and Sarah Tallcott, who, 
with Martha Tupper, were the only preachers in Scipio 
meeting for a long period. 

The most of the settlers in the above estimate, with some 
not enumerated, established themselves within a radius of ten 
or twelve miles, from the Meeting house. There were in- 
dulged meetings for members more remote, at Amaziah 
Taber's, near Owasco Lake, at Elmira, at Salmon Creek, at 
Hector, at Union Springs, at Scmpronius, at Aurora, and at 
North Street; all under the care of committees from the 
monthly meeting. Salmon Creek meeting dates from 1809; 
it was held sometimes in Paul Cogswell's house, sometimes in 
John Kenyon's, until a house for worship was built about 
1819. Welcome Mosher, Jas. McLaughlin, and Samuel 
Green, Samuel and Elizabeth Bull, and others, belonged to 
this meetinsf. 



78 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS, 

The meeting at Semproiiius was instituted in 1808. Ebe- 
nezer Young, Seth Cusliman, Henry Pearsall, Kussell and 
Louisa Frost, were some of the members, also Jonathan 
Ilalsted and family. The last named ultimately settled at 
Salmon Creek. 

Hector meeting was allowed in 1813 at the house of Cornelius 
Carman. Union S})rings meeting followed in 1814, held at 
the house of John Earl ; Aurora meeting in 1816. North 
Street preparative was instituted in 1817, and the meeting 
house west of Scipioville was built in 1820. Sempronius, 
Skaneateles and Elmira were severally granted preparative 
meetings in 1819. The one at Elmira was held in the house 
of Townsend Carpenter. 

The members who attended Skaneateles meeting were Wm. 
Willets and family, David Arnold and famil v. Charity Thorne 
and her family, and others. Those at North Street, were 
Chas. Gifford, Aaron Baker, Joseph Hoxie, and their families, 
also Joseph and Lois Estes, and others. Union Springs, 
John and Elizabeth Earl, Wm. S. and Eliza Burling, Elisha 
and Margaret Southwick and their daughters, and Mary Hart 
and her family. 

Before quitting the pleasant paths of reminiscence, for- 
getting, for the moment, the great schism, and also the 
order of chronology, let us take note of the coming of 
another Friend, originally from Burlington, New Jersey. 
Josiah Letcliworth, with his wife Ann and their family 
settled in Scipio in 1831. Such a man is an event in the 
history of the place he calls liome. He identified himself 
with the public weal. Interested in the temperance cause, he 
gave it both pen and voice, with a zeal that never waned. 
His interest in the education and training of youth took 
him to the public schools of his vicinity, where he sometimes 
gave lectures prepared for the purpose. More fond of humor 
than some thought befitted the sober sect, his sallies of mirth 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 79 

were often a bright disguise for some truth he would enforce. 
Many of the children of his time will cherish to old age,* 
the memory of the smile and the word of cheer he never 
forgot to give them. How few realize the influence of these 
ripples of kindness, impalpable as the light and air which 
report them. He loved and cultivated flowers and some- 
times indulged in writing poetry. In short he enjoyed life 
with zest, because he knew how to get the best of it. 

Oat of tlie past beams another radiant face. In the 
autumn of 1843, tlie row of women who sat on the facino- 
seat in North Street meeting of orthodox Friends, was 
brightened by the addition of a brilliant and beautiful woman 
whom David Thomas had brought from Lockport to preside 
in his home. 

Edna D. Thomas was a native of Massachusetts, but came 
to Western New York in early youth. From the time of the 
construction of the Eric canal, she lived in Lockport ; thus 
identified with its growth, and its interests, she was as it 
were, a patron saint of the city. Then the wife o£ a physician. 
Dr. Isaac Smith, her warm heart learned the sorrows of a 
wide range of life ; and it is safe to say, that no soul hungry 
for sympathy or aid, failed to find her aglow to minister to its 
need. She was emphaticall}^, " Everybody's friend ; " especi- 
ally active and interested in the Temperance as well as in the 
Anti-Slavery cause. At a time when intemperance was alarm- 
ingly prevalent in Lockport, she gave the impetus to found- 
ing a Women's Temperance Society, of which she was made 
president. She braved mobs to give her presence to Anti- 
Slavery meetings, when it was the fashion to mob these 
gatherings. She also believed in the equal rights of woman 
and never lacked the courage of her principles. In a verbal 
contest, a sparkling flash of eye and sj)eech would transfix 
her foe, whose enjoyment of the humor was more than an 
antidote to the chagrin of defeat. 



80 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

To the new liome in Cayuga, she came, brightening it with 
her illuminating presence. 

In the season of flowers David Thomas's garden was 
heavily taxed to supply her flower mission. On meeting- 
days, a basket of bouquets generally adorned the lobby of 
the meeting house, which were dispensed by her, at the close 
of the solemn hour. 

When tliis life, so full, and brave, and earnest, was ended, 
though measuring more than four score years, tliose who 
loved lier, felt, not that an aged friend was gone, but that a 
strong, true woman was taken from the midst of her useful- 
ness, and that they must henceforth miss the welcoming 
smile and the hand-grnsp, which had cheered all, blessed 
with the friendship of this young spirit endowed with the 
glory of a gi'and old age. 

Your historian has no record of the years from 1822 until 
1827. Greenfield and Amy Id en came from Buckingham, 
Bucks County, Penn., in Nov. 1822, and settled per- 
manently, west of the Ridge road, between Sherwood and 
Poj^lar Ridge. Botli lived to be neai'ly ninety years of age. 
He leaves this legacy of business integrity which deserves 
record. Years of prosperity succeeding adversity, with a 
nobleness that can never be too much admired, he returned 
to his former home, and sought and paid those he owed. He 
was a man of thought, well read, and so far in advance of 
his time, as to be an abolitionist. 

The venerable John Searino: came from Lono; Island and 
settled not far from his present home, west of Poplar Ridge, 
in May, 1823. Nearly sixty years has the community in 
which he lives, enjo^^ed the influence and example of this 
model farmer and upright man. 

John and Sarah Ann Merritt, well remembered by the 
community of which they were respected members for 
many yeai's, came from Dutchess Co., in the spring of 1825, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 81 

bringing three sons and four daughters. They established 
themselves a mile east of Poplar Ridge. Isaac and Susan 
Jacobs and their six children came from Uwchlan, Chester 
Co., Penn., in the same year, and eventually made a per- 
manent home near King's Ferry. He, like his brother-in-law, 
David Thomas, loved the cultivation of fruit and flowers, 
and did much in this way to improve the taste of Southern 
Cayuga. lie was also an active opponent of Slavery. The 
families of both, as well as many other Friends, abstained from 
the use of dry goods and groceries which were the product 
of slave labor. This required self-denial in many ways. 
The groceries were often not of the best quality, the tex- 
tui-e of the prints was coarse and there were but four 
varieties of })attern, which gave little scope for the exercise 
of taste by the conscientious, who recognized each others' 
faithfulness, in the figures of their dresses. 

Nehemiah and Sarah S. Merritt, from Dutchess Co., settled 
east of Poplar Ridge in the spring of 1827. Sarah S. Merritt 
was a devoted Friend, })romincnt in the affairs of the Society 
and earnest foi'the maintenance of its testimonies. She lived 
nearly ninety four years, and retained her mental powers 
until near the end. 

Wm. and Mary King, of blessed memory, with their sons 
John and Alfred, came from Stroudsburg in 1828, oi'iginally 
from England. 

With hesitation I now approach the diflicult, delicate task 
of s})eaking of the division. 

In midsummer of the year 1828, the division occurred in 
the Scipio monthly meeting of Friends. It had trans|)ired 
in the yearly meeting, held in that spring in New York 
City, so it was inevitable that the subordinate meetings 
take the same course or identify themselves with one or the 
other party; a crisis of trial, grief and bitterness. The mem- 
bership in New York meeting was 18,445. It divided thus : 



8^ HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

Orthodox 5,913, tlie larger body 12,532. The great schism 
began the previous year in the largest body of Friends in 
America, the Philadelphia yearly meeting, whose aggregate 
of membership was 26,476. When divided, the numbers 
were, 9,323 Orthodox, 17,953 of the larger body. 

One noble deed, the last unitedly done by this body, 
brightens this period of fierce dissension, an act of humanity 
toward a part of the despised African race in North Carolina 
There was a pause in the strife and all agreed to raise $3,000 
to assist the yearly meeting of North Cai-olina in removing 
from that state, a large number of colored people who had 
been manumitted, and were liable to be re-enslaved if they 
remained in their native land. The quarterly meetings 
afterward paid their quotas, the money was raised, paid to 
the treasurer, and did its beneficent work. This episode 
illustrates remarkably how heads could differ hotly, and 
hearts unite and respond to the holiest dictates of duty. 

The controversy was lengthened by the large property 
interests of the society, both educational and religious. As 
no compromise was reached, it is due the larger body 
to say, that a settlement was propc^sed by it, aTid re- 
jected by the other. In Philadelphiji,, the property was 
adjudged to the smaller body, it being in the judgment of 
the Courts " The Society of Friends.'' 

In New York, the Chancellor decided for the larger body, 
saying in his decision, that their creeds though differently 
expressed, were substantially the same. In 1851, the larger 
body* in the City of New York, divided the property thus 
decreed to it, with the orthodox Friends, to mutual satis- 
faction. The same was done in Baltimore as late as 1865. 
In this church without a v/ritten creed, tins nursery of char- 
acter and of strong individuality, it is not so strange that 
differences finally became irreconcilable, as that a Society 
thus founded, should continue for nearly 200 years, without 
serious dissensions. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FBIEISTDS. 83 

According to Wm. Penn., "the Light of Christ within, 
as God's gift, for man's salvation, was the fundamental prin- 
ciple, the main distinguishing principle of Friends." Bar- 
clay speaks thus of it, " By this we understand a spiritual, 
heavenly, invisible principle, in which God as Father, Son 
and Spirit dwells, a measure of which divine and glorious 
life, is in all men as a seed, which of its own nature draws, 
invites, inclines to God." S[)eaking of the Scriptures, he says, 
"They are a secondary will, subordinate to the Spirit, from 
which they derive all their excellency and certainty ; they are 
a declaration of the fountain not the fountain itself. The letter 
of the Scriptures is outward, a mere declaration of good things, 
but not the good things themselves, therefore it neither is, nor 
can be, the chief nor principal rule of Christians." Still the 
early Friends acknowledged the divine authority of the 
Scriptures, and were willing that all their doctrines and 
practices should be tried by them. But they believed that 
none could rightly understand and interpret them without 
the aid of the Holy S[)irit, "which is the first and principal 
leader," says Barclay. These extracts are given that we 
may see wliat breadth there was in the bond, of their union, 
for ditierences of opinion, which no doubt existed from the 
earliest years of the Society. Is it then strange that when 
the great schism occurred, each party should devoutly be 
lieve and stoutly maintain, that it was the " Society of 
Friends," and that each should draw from the archives of a 
connnon inheritance, the testimony of the fathers in proof of 
its assertion and its belief? And is it strange that both could 
substantiate their claim? Is it not also equally probable 
that both had unconsciously diverged somewhat from the 
faith of Ancient Friends, developing in divergent lines, views 
which they held, without discovering the lack of agreement ? 

Often in history, a single life precipitates and formulates, 
feelings and principles, which had, as it wei'e, been in the air. 
So it must have been in this instance. 



84 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

In 1775, a young man appeared in tlie ministry in Jericho, 
Long Island. A character of depth and power, he possessed 
a commanding presence, a natural and forcible eloquence, and 
gave the seal to his faith by a life of such excellence as no 
enemy could gainsay. 

Such was Ehas Ilicks, whose name was given to the larger 
body, at the division. As it never accepted the designation, 
it has been avoided in these pages. In reading his life I can 
not see that he taught any startling innovations on the 
ancient doctrines, so far as I have read or understand them. 
To give his thought correctly permit some extracts from a 
letter written l)y him shortly before his death, to a friend: 
" Some may query, what is the cross of Christ ? To this I 
answer, it is the perfect law of God, written on the tablet of 
the heart of every rational creature, in such indelible char- 
acters that all the power of mortals carmot erase it. Neither 
is there any power or means given to the children of men, 
but this inward law and light, by which the true and saving 
knowledge of God can be obtained; nnd by this inward law 
and light all will be either justified or condemned. It is 
evident that nothing but this inward light and law as it is 
heeded and obeyed, ever did or ever can make a true and 
real christian and child of God." 

No division occurred at this time (1827) in New England, 
nor in North Carolina. Some years after, a dissatisfaction 
arose in regard to the writings of Joseph John Gurney, for 
just the opposite reason to that which caused the dissent 
from the views of Elias Hicks. It was urged that Joseph 
John Gurney, taught too literally the doctrines of the Angli- 
can Church, and held lightly, or failed to emphasize the 
principle of the " indwelling light," while his life also was 
one of such exalted goodness, that none could doubt the 
source of its illumination. This ended in a division which 
also reached the Scipio meeting of orthodox Friends. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 85 

In 1833, Job Otis, a friend from New Bedford, Mass., 
removed hither, with his family. He was a man of keen 
intellect, educated and learned in all the lore of the Sc^ciety 
and strong in its faith. lie dissented strongly from the 
views taught by Joseph John Gurney, showing where they 
were at variance with those of the ancient Friends. Not a 
few saw with him. But not being able to convince the 
larger part of the meeting, of the truth of their position, and 
believing the views it represented would prove subversive 
of princi}>les they held pi'ccious, they withdrew to themselves, 
feeling bound to do so by what they believed the cause of 
Truth. 

The pen so unequal to the portrayal which it would have 
gladly omitted, in closing, would pay a tribute to the people 
whose light has vindicated itself by the nearness of the work 
and walk of many of its followers, to the Truth. May the 
brightness and beauty of such sainted lives, as Pennington, 
Barclay, John Woolman, Antony Benezet, Elizabeth Fry, and 
a host of others, blind us to this dark page. Let us only 
remember how much this peculiar and remarkable little body 
has contributed to the growth of true christian civilization. 

It was lirst to place woman beside man in the church, and 
is still alone in that regard, for which she will embalm its 
memory, if ever the need be. Its William Penn taught an 
Indian polic}^ which our government would do well to learn. 
From its beginning its testimony against war has been un- 
flinching. It early purged itself of complicity with human 
slavery, and furnished some of the most effective fighters 
against that iniquity ; the doctrine of immediate, uncon- 
ditional emancipation, which became the watchword of Eng- 
lish and American Abolitionists, was the thought of the 
quakeress, Elizabeth Heyrick. 

Its Benj. Lundy began the Anti-Slavery agitation in this 
country, to which its AVhittier, consecrated his muse and its 



86 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRIENDS. 

Lnerctifi Mott, bore her testimony. In short in every fiehl of 
work for humanity and for the growth of justiee and truth 
in the earth, may be found, not lagging, but foremost, mem- 
bers of the different Societies of Friends. Though no longer 
a unit, their methods of work are similar. 

Whether they are one and all, to lose their distinctive 
place among the sects, is not for us to forecast, assured that 
the " Light" which has led them, that maketh for righteous- 
ness endureth forever. 



APPENDIX. 



Fi-om 1808 to 1821 inclusive the following members were 

added to Scipio Monthly meeting of Friends : 

1 808. — Nine Partners, Dutchess Co.. : Wm. Mosher, Jonathan 
Dean ; Hannah Mosher and three children — Deborah, 
Sarah and Henry. Chappaqua, Westchester Co. : Samuel 
and Katy Weeks. Amawalk, Westchester Co. : Abraham 
and Elizabeth Lockwood, New York City : Aaron 
and Sarah Baker, Washington Co., N. Y. , John and 
Mary Kenyon and their son John; Ruth Allen ; David 
and Wealthy Frink and three daughters. 

1809. — Washington Co., N. Y. : Nicholas Sherman. Coey- 
man's : Benjamin Stanton. Galway : Isaiah and Meribah 
Cogswell and three children. Duanesburg : Silas and 
Abigail Cook; Philip Allen ; Benj. Hoag and wife and 
four children. Uxbridge, Mass. : Alonzo and Wait 
Thayer; Asa Potter. Northbridge, Mass. : Samuel, 
Ezra and Olive Southwick. Plainheld, New Jersey, : 
Levi Gaskell; Agnes Haines; Wm. and Rachel Web- 
ster and their seven children. Shrewsbury, New Jersey: 
Thomas Hance ; Wilbur and Susannah Dennis requested 
for their childi-en, Cyrus, Ann Eliza, and Seneca. 

1810. — Nine Partners : Ruth and Mary Mosher. Hudson, 
N. Y. : Elizabeth Aldrich. Hardwrick, New Jersey : 
John and Anna Laign and five children; John and' 
Rebecca Brotherton and six minor children, of whom 
Enoch Brotherton is the only survivor. Little Egg 
Harbor, New Jersey : Samuel and Hannah Shourds, 
their seven sons and two daughters. Dartmouth, Mass. : 



88 APPENDIX. 

Joseph Laphain ; Phebe Easton. New Bedford, Mass. : 
Pelcg and Eliza Slocum ; Lazarus Ewer. Easton, N. Y. ; 
Elizabeth Mosher and daiigljter Amy. Duanesburg : 
Isaac and Abigail Higgins. Galway, N. Y. : Jonathan 
and Sarah Swan and son Jonathan ; Charles and Mary 
Carman ; Amaziah and Judith Allen and three children. 
Dartmouth, Mass. : Benjamin Ilowlaiid, Smith and 
Sylvia, with their children Humphrey, Frederic, Slocum, 
Kijah, Sylvia, llowland and Cornelius. 

1811. — Dai'tmouth, Mass.: Peleg and Eunice White and 
their four chilrdren^ — ^Abner, Amy, David and Susan ; 
Sarah Smith ; Cook and Rebecca Rowland. New York 
City : Wm. S. and Eliza Burling and their children — 
Mary, Caroline, Thomas and William. Danby : Elisha 
and Margaret Southwick and their daughters, Cynthia, 
Sophia and Phebe. Chappaqua, Westcliester Co. : John 
Mosher and nine children — Henry, Hannah, Loretta, 
Deborah, Sarah, Judith, Isaac, Israel and Samuel. Ama- 
walk : Sarah T. Rowland, wife of Humphry Rowland. 
Uxbridge, Mass. : Benjamin Bowen. 

1812. — DeRuyter, Madison Co. : David and Rest Wood and 
nine children ; Isaac Scott and his wife ; Joseph and 
Martha Darbyshire. Rhode Island : Jonathan and Abi- 
gail Green and seven children — Sarah, Abigail, Anna, 
David, William, Joseph and Jacob. Amawalk : Jane 
Purdy ; Sarah Underbill; Anne Bloomer. Oblong: 
Wm. and Mary Wooden. New York : Elizabeth, second 
wife of Aaron Baker. Pennsylvania : Samuel Green. 

1813. — Rhode Island: John and Elizabeth Earl and Samuel 
Williams. Easton : Jacob Cofhn. Coeyman's : Mehit- 
able Wing and four children. Long Island : Ruth, wife 
of Asa Potter. New Bedford : Samuel and Lydia 
Janney and family. Dartmouth : (Gardner and Rhoda 
Wainer and son Michael); Jonathan and Edith Sisson. 



AK'ENDIX 89 



Galwiiy : Charles and PliebeGifloi'd and tliuirc-lii 

John, David and Mary; David and Hannah Chjdcstcr 

and three children — Benjaniin, Nathan and Pliehe. 

181-1.— Dartmouth, (Abigail Weeks); Jos. Kirby ; Mcribali 
Slocnni. New Bedford : Jos. and Deborah llowlaml 
and their four children ; Obadiah Janney ; Ruth Swift 
and seven children ; Win. Davis; Jno. and Catherine 
Janney and nine children; Rachel Sharpstone; Calel) 
Manchester, j(jined by request. Hadson : Thos. and 
Mary Also[) and son John ; Esek and Elizabeth Mosher. 
Amawalk : Jesse and Phebe B'ield and danghtei" Deborah ; 
Jos. and Sarah Kniflln. Easton : Joseph and Eleanor 
Iloxie and family. Duanesburg : Jos. and Lois Estes. 
Quensbury : Isaac and Rebecca Starbuck. Cha})paqua : 
Israel Cock and Elizabeth Cock. 

1815. — Saratoga: Daniel and Barnabas Wing ; Sarah Wing 
and three children; Ruth Wing. New York: Mai-y, 
wife of Richard Tallcot. Troy : Mary Ilart, and children 
— Jose})h, Sarah, Ann, Jane and John. Galway : Josiah 
and Dorcas Thomjison and six children ; Arnold and 
Iluldah Comstock ; received by request — Elisha and 
Hannah Eldridge ; received by request — Lucretia Bow en ; 
Clark Morrison. Sandwich, Mass. : Thomas and James 
Iloxie ; Lazarus and Lydia Ewer. Creek Monthly 
Meeting: Major and Millicent Marshall ; Austin Ci'oss; 
Thomas Frost. Dartmouth : Wm. Smith ; Barnabas 
Kirby ; Riscom and May Kirby, six children. 

1816. — Dartmouth: Elihu and Sarah Slocum and sons, Elihu 
and Ezra. Galway: Jerothman and Olive Allen. New 
Bedford: Wm. Dillingham. Chappaqua: Samuel Gale. 
Easton : Jas. and Margaret Kenyon ; Benj. Kenyon. 
VVestport : Perry and Elizabeth Sisson. Queensl)ury : 
J no. and Ilaunah Winslow, Rhode Island : John E. 
Williams. 



90 APPENDIX. 

1B17. — Cornwall: Tov;nsend and Elizabeth Carpenter and 
eight children. Galway : Andrew Corastock ; Mary, 
wife of Abiier Gifford. 

1818. — Amawalk: Willis and Ann Smith; Abel and Phebe 
Underbill ; Kebecca, wife of Daniel Tallcot Little Egg 
Harbor: Rachel Brown and Ijcnlah Gray. Galway: 
Zebulon and Hannah Hall ; Jno. and Phebe Hoxie. 
Sandwich : Betsey Hoxie. 

1819. — Saratoga: Jos. S. and Judith Allen, and Eben Allen. 
Bridgewater : Jos. and Submit Frost, and seven minor 
children ; Lydia P. Mott and Arthur her son. Chap- 
paqua : Jacob and Eliza Griffin and two daughters. 
Amawalk : Wm. and Phebe Birdsall and nine minor 
children, Galway : Phiny Sexton ; Anna S. Kenyon. 

1820.— Galway : Samuel and Elizabeth Hall. New York : 
Isaac and Sarah Sutton and their live children. Cha}>- 
paqua : Anna Underldll and two daughters. 

1821. — Buckingham, Penn. : Thos. and Ann Casey Hutch- 
inson their son Mathias Hutchins(^n. New York : 
Ambrose Cock, seven minor children. 

Note. — The w^riter desires to return thatdvs to John 
Searing for the use of records, without wdiich the foregoing 
paper could not have been written ; and also to Samuel D. 
Otis for the loan of books, containing information and history 
of value concerning the Society of Friends. 



THE INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 
OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



Jvead before the Cayuga County Historical Society, at Auburn, N. Y. 
September 21st, 1880. 

BY CYRENUS WHEELER. JR, 




Egyptian Flax Harvesting Scene. 

INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 




ITE subject of our paper 
this evening will be " The 
Inventors and Inventions 
of Cayuga County." 

This County was origi" 
nally included in Albany 
County, which was formed 
in 1683, and by subse- 
quent statute was made to 
comprise everything with- 
in tlie Colony of New 
York, north and west of 
the present limits of that 
Count}^, and all of Ver- 
mont. The County of 
Montgomery was formed 
from it, March 12, 1772, 
under the name of Tyron, borne b}' the then Colonial 
Governoi". Its present name was given it in honor of General 
Richard Montgomery of Revolutionary fame. Herkimer 



94 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



County, (originally called Ergbeimer,) was formed from 
Montgomery, February 16, 1791, and Onondaga County 
from Herkimer, March 5, 1794. Onondaga County at this 
time comprised the whole military tract, and from this was 
taken Cayuga County, March 8, 1799, and Seneca County 
from Cayuga in 1804, and a part of Tompkins County in 

1817, and Cortland Cou nty 
from Onondaga in 1808. 

In treating the subject, 
we must ask the kind in- 
dulgence of our hearers 
whilst brief allusion is 
made to some of the earlier 
inventions of the country 
and the world. 

George Farquhar, two 
hundred years ago truly j 
said, " Necessity, is the 
mother of invention. " This 
necessity has been ac- 
knowledged in all times 
and in every age, and 
among every people has 
l)een acted upon. Inven- 
tion antedates the flood, 
and was at an early day 

FiG. l.-C0Bt«me and Accoutrements of Man in P^'^^Cticcd by OUr firSt par- 
the Reindeer Epoch, Stone Age. g^^^g^ After partaking of 

the forbidden fruit, they felt the necesHiUj of being clothed ; 
"And tlicy sewed hg-leaves together, and made for them- 
selves aprons," and thus became the first inventors^ and joint 
inventors also, the record of which has been preserved in 
Genesis, third chapter and seventh verse. The question of 
dress from that day to tliis has been an important one, and 




'- - p.f'- .- "i" i"' ',"■ \ -f /X'-N °^ ' 



-iSSSVjvj.^^^-* ■... 



'\5w-^;i^\ — - 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



95 



especially so in modern times to those fair daughters of Eve, 
who, with extensive wardrobes often 
feel in view of the rapid changes and 
wonderful inventions of fashion, that 
they "have nothing to wear." 

The first necessity was food and 
clothing, the next shelter; and it is 
recorded in the fourth 
chapter and seventeenth 
verse of the same book, 
that " Enoch builded a 
City " ; and in the twen- 
tieth verse, that Jabel 
was the father of such 




Fig. 2.— Grecian Lady in Dress of Old Style. 

twenty-first versf, that his brother 
Jul)al, " was the father of all 
such as handled the harp and 
organ ;" and in the twenty- second 
verse we learn that Tubal Cain 
" was an instructor of every 
artificer in brass and iron." In- 
vention at that early day, appears 
to have made rapid progress. 

The City built by Enoch, was 
proba1)ly a collection of tents, 
and the people mainly led a 
pastoral life, as "Jabel was the 
father of such as dwell in tents, 
and have much cattle." In 
Genesis, eleventh chapter, third 
verse, we learn that the descend- 
ants of Noah on the plains of 
Shinar, invented brick for build- 
ing a city, and erecting a tower, 
neither of which appear to have 



as dwell in tents ;" in the 




Fig. 3.— Costume of Rich Bourgooise, 
14th Century. 



96 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



been completed. Invention had reached a high standard, 
and the arts and commerce flourished in past ages. 

In regard to this country, and more especially this County, 
and the inventitms practiced here at an early day, it is piroper 
to inquire. This County, before its settlement by the whites, 
was the hunting ground of the Cayugas, a tribe of the Six 








'^^■^^:i^ 






Fig. 4.— Plan of Ancient Work near Auburn, N. Y. (Fort, Hill). — From Ancient 

Monuments of the United Slates. No. 1. — By E. G. Squier, 

Harpers' Magazine, May, 1880, p. 743. 

Nations. Prior to their occupancy of it, another, and dif- 
fei-cnt race of people resided hei'C. Agassiz has declared that, 
in his ()])iiii(m, " America, so far as lier i)hysical history is 
concerned has been falsely denominated the ' New World.' 
Hers was the hrst dry land lifted out of the waters; hers, 
the first shore washed by the ocean that enveloped all the 
earth beside; and while Europe was represented only by 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, X. Y, 



97 




islands, rising here and there above the sea, America stretched 
an nnbroken hne of hind, from Nova Scotia to the ' Far 

West.' " The charac- 
teristics of this early 
race, can only be judged 
of by the vestiges of 
their works yet in exis- 
tence, as found widely 
scattered all over the 
country. 

It has been inferred 
that this race was an 
agricultural people, de- 
pendent upon the soil 
rather -than the chase 
for support. When, or 
how they disappeared, 
is veileil in uncertainty. 
It is, however, clear that 
many centuries must 
have elapsed since they 
occupied the country. 

The aborigines of the 
country possessed in a 
moderate degree, in 
ventive talent which 
was born of their first 
great necessities — food 
and clothing ; secondly 
of the means for offence 
and defense ; thirdl}^, 
transportation ; and fourthly, of a desire for ornamentation, 
lis manifestation is shown in their implements of the chase and 
warfare, the bow and arrows and spears, the flint heads of 




Fio. 5.— Six Arrow Heads of Flint— Cayns;M Tribe 
From Ancient Town on "Cutting Place," 
N. E. corner of City of Auburn, N. Y. 



98 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

wliich, found in different 
localities, by their differ- 
ence in form and finish, 
indicating difference of 
degree in the skill and 
inventive talent of the 
makers. 

Their wigwams, their 
dress including their leg- 
gings and moccasins, at- 
test theii" inventive talent 
and mechanical skill ; 
and the light bark canoe, 
(Fig. 8.) as a means of 
transportation, not only 
evinces skill, but an 
adaptation of means to 
ends in harmony with 
their surroundings. 

Kude pottery, as well 
as beads are found and 
attest the same faculty. 
When, or by whom these 
rude arts were first prac- 
ticed, is uncertain ; how 
long they had been prac- 
ticed will remain forever 
unknown. They were, 
however, so practiced 
at the earliest date of 
which we have any au- 
thentic record of this 
country, which goes back 
to the early part of the 

Q. 6.— a, b, Flint Spear Heads ; c. Knife : d, un- i. i.i t. 

known ; e,f, Celts or Scrapers. From farm Seventeenth Centur}^ 




Fig. 6. 



of Ulysses Wright, Esq., on Franklin 
Street, Auburn, N. Y. 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



99 



Tlie permanent settlement of this County by Europeans 
scarcely readies back a century. The early 
pioneers, here found a nearly unbroken 
wilderness and with rare exceptions a heavy 
growth of timber, the product of a long un- 
disturbed and pi'olific soil. To the removal 
of the forest they bent their energies. First 
in the order ol their necessities, shelter was 
required. The straight 
bodies of the forest trees 
served tlie purpose, and the 
woodman's axe shaped them 
and from them the house 
was erected. Barks served 
as a covering ; an open fire- 
place of stone, and a chim 
ney laid up with sticks and 

Pio. 7.— a. stone Pestle from Cato, b. Hammer , i i n 

Stone from "Steel Place," Auburn, N.Y. mud ; a Spliut plank lloor. 





/:C/./r^ 







Z^Z-^^ 






Fig. 8. 



a door on wooden hinges and a " latch-string always out," 
completed the early home of the pioneer. 



100 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



Tlie furniture was scant and of the simplest kind. This 
home, however rude, was the centre of as much real hap- 
piness as more ytretentious mansions often afford. As fast 




as the forest disappeared, the cultivation of tlie soil pro- 
gressed. The implements in use were adapted to tlieir 
necessities. The axe that cleft the timber, opened the 
ground for tlie reception of seed when thickly spread roots 
forbade the use of the hoe. 



OF CAYUGA COUXTY, N. Y. 



101 



'^^^X 




;- -— 

o o 
- c 






°5 






The crop of corn, when raised, was converted into 
and coarse meal by hand, aided by the stump of a 



samp 
tree 




Fig. 11. — Primitive Corn Mill, Stone Age. (Piguier.) 



102 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



followed out by the axe and fire to form a moi'tar, and a 
large wooden pestle suspended above it from a spring-pole. 

The forest also yielded sweetness. The sugar maple, 
abundant in tills County in those , days yielded, in early 



6 ■W*»rjf 'V7T3T»V 




spring, an abundant harvest of sap, which was caught in 
troughs shaped by the axe, and boiled down to a delicious 
syrup making more palatable the corn meal cake, and the 
boiled samp. 



OF CAYUGA COUNTV, N. Y. 



103 



With the advnnee of improvements, animals were intro- 
duced, and oxen became important aids in subduing the 








!:/' 



Fig. 13.— "Log-boat," of Early Settlers. 

wildei-iiess and cultivating the soil. The implements and 
machinery in use were of the simplest kind ; but of the 
kind best' adapted to the necessities of the 
time. The first vehicles in use, Avere the 
'' log boat," and the " log-sled." The first 
was formed of the crotch of a tree shaped 
by the axe, to slide over the ground. To 
this, the oxen, were attached hy a chain, 
and it served much the same purpose as 
the stone-boat of the present dav. 
SM|| I The log-sled was an im])rovement upon 
^'^'l I the log-boat, and served its special pur- 
tWl -n poses. It was constructed in much the 
^ same form as the log boat, the forks of 
^^ the triangle being left longer, and selected 
"I with a view to securing a long curved 
^' runner; and the main stem was hewn 
'l down, and left long enough to form a 
^ tongue, to which the oxen were attached. 
£ On top of the forked or runner part, was 
fastened a rough floor, and a raised bench 
for a seat. 

This was the conveyance for long dis- 
tances; it served to take the "grist to 
mill " (one of which, and we believe the 
first, was erected in what is now the city 
of Auburn, in 1794, and another in what 



104 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



'■^^=^'.'^'^ A' 






















'■>,*4^i^pr 






Fig. 15.— a Primitive Spinner. (Figuier.) 




Ain^:^n 




Fig. 16.— Egyptian Women neingjthe DiBtaH. 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



105 



is now Ludlowville, in 1798.) The County was tlien with- 
out roads, and fallen and decaying timber encumbered the 
ground, and this conveyance would ride over obstacles, which 




could not be safely surmounted by the log-boat or wheeled 
vehicles. In those early days, matron and maid availed 
themselves of this mode of conveyance to attend religious 
services and social gatherings. Whether this was more con- 



106 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 




Fig. 18.— Keel of the Olden Time. 



ducive to Christianity, or ,^ood 
digestion, we leave others to 
decide. 

These and other improvements 
and inventions not named, were 
none of them covered by patents, 
and in fact antedate the patent 
laws of this country, and we 
admit that we cannot name with 
certainty, the particular persons 
to whom the credit ot these 
inventions is due ; although we 
can name some of the early pio- 




FiQ. 19.— Spinning Wheel for Flax. 

neers who practiced those arts with advantage to themselves 
and to the County. 



OF CAYUGA C0U2CTY, K Y. 



107 




Fig. 31.— Early Mode of Churning. The " Dash-Churn.' 



108 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



The first wliite settlers in the present limits of the County, ~ 
were John Harris, from Harrisburgh, Pa., in 1778, who 
located at Cayuga, where he established the first ferry for 
crossing the lake. Eoswell Franklin, from Wyoming, who 
located near Aurora in 1789, and Benjamin Avery, at 
Tallcot's Corners, in the same year. In 1790, EHsha Durkee 

and Edward Paine settled 
near Aurora. Colonel John 
Ilardenbergh settled in Au- 
burn in 1793, and erected 
a s;rist mill in 179J-, and 
the place was known as 
Hardenbergli's Corners un- 
til 1805, when it took its 
pi'csent name. Charles Ken- 
dall, Ezekiel Landon, and 
i:-Al?nson Tracy, were also 
early settlers in Scipio. 
These persons, or some of 
them at least, and many 
others not named, practiced such arts at an early day in 
Cayuga County. 

From 1793, onward to 1810, the County rapidly increased 
in population, as at that time, the census shows a population 
of 29,840. The industries of the County, too, were no less 
marked than its population. At that time, 1,360 looms were 
in operation, producing 340,870 yards of cloth. Eleven 
Carding Mills, eleven Clothing Mills, nineteen Tanneries, 
and forty-seven Distilleries, were also in operation. A 
writer about that date, says : " The inhabitants clothe them- 
selves principally in the productions of their own families ; 
and were it not for the exhorbitant number of their dis- 
tilleries, I should add are very temperate and industrious." 




Fig. 22. 



-The Modern Rotary Chiirn, 
Blauchard type. 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 109 

C.iyuga County, from 1810 up to the present time, has, 
we think, in its enterprise and industries, kept fully up to 
the necessities of the times, and will compare favorably with 
any other county or locality. Whilst Agriculture, Manu- 
factures and Commerce are inseparable and mutually de- 
pendent on each other, it is not improper to inquire how 
much the success of all these is due to the skill of the in- 
ventor, stimulated and protected by the patent laws of the 
country. 

The system of granting patents was not known to the 
ancients, and, in many countries does not at the present 
time exist. The system was not, as many suppose, an in- 
vention of some New England Yankee, though New England 
Yankees are many of them inventors ; but from Old England 
we derived our patent laws, and like every thing else of 
English origin, we have improved upon them. In England 
the granting of patents was based on , a statute passed in 
1624, in the reign of James the First. 

In France, the earliest patent law was in 1791. ' The 
patent system of the United States of America, has grown up 
under a positive grant in the Federal Constitution. The first 
act was passed in 1790. The law waS' amended in 1793, 
and the term was for fourteen years with a provision for ex- 
tending the term of the patent, until the amendment of the 
law, July 3, 1832, and this merely indicated how the ap- 
plication to Congress for an extension should be made ; the 
laws having from time to time been amended to the general 
law now in force relating to patents, which is that of 1870. 
By the act of 1836, patents were granted for fourteen years, 
and provision was made for an extension in certain cases for 
seven years more. In 1861, the original term was fixed at 
seventeen years, and extensions prohibited. Patents for 
designs may be taken out, for three and one-half, seven or 
fourteen years, as the applicant may elect. 



110 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

The wiiole number of patents granted for inventions 
by the United States from 1790 to November 30, 

1880, inclusive, is 235,059 

For Desii^ns, 12,049 

For Trade-marks, 8,108 

For Labels, 2,367 

Making a total of, 257,583 

Of this number, 474 were granted to residents of Cayuga 
County, for inventions ; the earliest one being granted to 
Roswell Towslej of Scipio, for a plow, January 11, 1812, 
and the last one Oct. 26, 1880, to J. M. Hurd, and J. W. 
Mosher, of Auburn, for a wasliing machine. Of the patents 
granted, 6S were for harvesters; 11 for carriage axles and 
boxes; 12 for plows; 10 for harvester knife grinders; 9 
for washing machines ; 8 for clothes wringers ; 8 for churns; 
8 for threshing machines ; and the balance distributed over a 
wide field embracing a large variety of subjects, including a 
cherry-stoner, carpet-stretcher, animal poke, stump extractor, 
life-boat, floating dock, dental engine, steam engine, match 
safe, and mill stone. , Among the patentees are found ladies, 
ph3^sicians. dentists, lawyers, bakers and brewers, blacksmiths, 
silversmiths, machinists and manufacturers, mayors, ex- 
ma} ors and aldermen. 

Of the earlier Inventors and Inventions, but little can with 
certainty be learned, as the destruction of the Patent Office 
and its records, by fire in 1836, cut off that source of in- 
formation except in a few cases, where the specifications and 
drawings were afterwards restored. With the later Inventors 
and Inventions, much difficulty has been experienced in 
obtaining the necessary facts. 

From 1790 to 1836, inclusive, forty-six patents were 
granted to residents of Cayuga County ; of which, ten were 
for plows ; eight for threshing machines ; five for stave 
sawing and jointing; two for S23inning wheels; three 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. Ill 

foi" washing macliines, and one each for a churn, harrow, 
mill-stone, morticing machine, hand rake, potash, pump, 
raising water, saddle, bedstead, fanning mill, fence wire, 
knife sharpener, furnace, shears, cordage, weavers' harness, 
and manufacturing brandy from domestic articles. From 
this, it will be seen that all the threshing machine patents, 
and all the plow patents except two, were granted prior to 
1837. The earliest patent issued to a resident of what is 
now Cayuga County, was for a plow. 

It will be impossible in the limited time, to more than 
briefly allude to a few of the four hundred and seventy- 
four inventors of Cayuga County ; and notice of many of the 
inventions is necessarily omitted, from inability to obtain the 
required information. 

Wm. H. Ward appears us an active inventor, covering a 
wide field which embraces car-brakes and car-couplings, 
bullet machinery, rotary steam-engines, gearwheel, harvester 
rake, &c. 

M. C. Cronk appears as another inventor. Ten patents 
were granted him on washing machines, clothes dryers, 
bottle-stoppers, bed bottoms, and so forth. 

Jacob Brinkerhoff appears as an improver of corn-shellers, 
clothes wringers, barbed fence wire, and fence posts. 

S. W. and J. F. Palmer, are granted various patents on 
clothes wringers, clothes dryers, reels, and snow shovels. 

Allen Sherwood secured patents for improvements in 
grain binders, mowing machines, corn-shellers, etc. 

A. R. Rej-nolds, patents for tempering steel and knife 
sections. 

George W. Tripp, for dental chairs and dental engines. 

George J. Letchworth and Byron C. Smith appear as 
inventors and patentees for improvements in hames. 

John H. Osborne, as an improver of tables and steam 
heaters. 



112 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



W. L. Bundy holds patents for his improvements in napkin 
hooks and sleeve buttons. 

David Wright, from legal defences, has turned his attention 
to farm fences and fruit barrels, and holds patents therefor. 

All of these inventions have merit, and many of them are 
undoubtedly impoitant and useful. 




Fig. 23.— Primitive Hoe ofWood, in Natural Form. 




Fig. 24.— Primitive Hoe, having Blade of Bone. 

Plows were of early origin. In the Old Testament, more 
than seven centuries before the Christian Era, in Isaiah 
second chapter, and fourth verse, and in Micah, fourth 
chapter third verse, it is said, " They shall beat their swords 
into plow-shares." The plow of the ancient Egyptians, was 
of wood, a single crooked stick serving for the tail, and to this 
was fastened by a rope, a horizontal beam. 




Fig. 25.— Egyptians Plowing. 

The Gi"eeks used a plow made from a tree having diverg- 
ing branches, like the arms of an anchor. 

These plows were probably shod with bronze or iron, as 
represented in Fig. 27. 



OF CAYUG4 COUNTY, N. Y. 



113 



Wooden plows, with wrought iron shares Laid with steel 
and known as the " Bull Plow," were in use in this country 
within the memory of persons now living. 



^^^^ ^__-_-~'^^^ 




Prcj. 26.— Plow of the Ancient Greeks. 




Fig. 27. 

In the early part of the eighteenth century, plows were 
made in Ilollund, with mould-boards of wrought iron or 
steel, and some of these were introduced into England and 
Scotland al)Out that time. 

About 1781, James Small, of Berwickshire, Scotland, who 
wrote a treatise on plows, made cast iron mould-boards and 
wrought iron shares, and in 1785 made cast iron shares. 

Charles Newbold, of New Jersey, obtained a patent June 
26, 1797, for a plow. This is believed to have been the 
first cast iron plow made in the United States. The share 
was of wrought iron. 

David Peacock, of Burlington, N. J., obtained a patent 
April 1, 1807. This had a cast iron mould-board, and a 
wrought iron share edged with steel. 

FIRST PATENT GRANTED TO A RESIDENT OF CAYUGA COUNTY. 

From the patent office records, it appears that Roswell 



114 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



Towslej obtained tlie first patent granted to a resident of 
Cayuga County. This was for a plow, and was granted 
January 11, 1812. Mr. Towsley was a blacksmith by trade, 
and settled at Aurora, about 1806, pi'evious to which, he 

resided at Manlius in On- 



ondaga County. Where 
he was born and the date 
of his birth are uncertain. 
He built in 1817, at 
Aurora, the first steam 
flouring mill west of the 
Hudson. The building- 
was of stone and is now 
standing on the dock 
'.• west of Eichard Morgan 
§, and Son's store, has long 
o been, and is now used as 
-| a store house. It had 
^ four run of stone, manu- 
2 factured excellent flour, 
and it was claimed when 
in operation, that it cost 
nothing for fuel, as the 
large quantity of wood 
burnt produced ashes 
enough to pay for the 
wood. It was in operation 
only about a year when 
Mr. Towsley failed and 
soon after beca-mc de- 
ranged. He was sent to the Lunatic Asylum in New York, 
where he died about 1820. He was an enterprising man, and 
carried on in addition to his flouring mill, a tanner}^, shoe 
shop, large blacksmith shop and a furnace. 




OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 115 

The destruction of the patent office, with all its records, by 
fire in 1836, has deprived us of a knowledge of his invention 
from that source, and the lapse of time renders it impossible 
to ascertain witli any degree of certainty the nature of the 
invention. As Towsley's invention, or at least bis patent 
antedates that of Jethro Wood more than two years, and as 
he was running a furnace, it would be interesting to know 
the character of his invention. 

Mathew Patrick, of Scipio, also obtained a patent on a 
plow, dated June 2, 181t5. This antedates Wood's, more than 
a year. Of this invention nothing can be learned, and the 
name of the inventor is not within the recollection of the 
"oldest inhabitant." 

Jonathan Swan, of Scipio, a Friend, was gi-anted a patent 
July 5, LB 14, and another April 24, 1824, for improvements 
in plows. He was a merchant as well as a natural mechanic. 
He was at one time in partnership with Wood and Towsley 
in the plow business ; and, for a time, they worked together 
in the same shop. He came to Auroi-a about 1810, from 
western Oneida County, and was a very intelligent man ; 
had a large family, many of whom became distinguished as 
jurists and in other positions. He died at Aurora and was 
buried in the Friends' Cemetcrj^ in the Quaker settlement. 

Jedidiah Morgan, who with J. B. Harris, October 11, 
1814, obtained a patent on a plow, was an enterprising farmer 
who settled at an early day a short distance south of Aurora, 
where he resided some time, but in later years, in Aurora, where 
he died in 1826. He was an energetic man, an influential 
politician of the Clintonian school, and a Senator at the time 
of his death. With no remarkable mechanical talents, he 
furnished the pecuniary means for Harris, who was a black- 
smith by trade, not the most skillful of his calling, but a 
most worthy citizen. 

R Towsley, and Jonathan Swan, jointly obtained a patent 



116 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

on a plow, whicli from its title apparently settles the ques- 
tion and decides the character of their preceding inventions. 
The records describe this last patent as a " Bull Plow." This 
kind of plow was well known, and tlie only one in general 
use prior to the introduction of the cast iron plow. The 
mould-board was shaped from wood, and the edge and point 
or share, was of wrought iron faced with steel, and the mould- 
board had thin strips of iron fastened to it to protect it from 
too rapid wear. (See Fig. 28.) 

THE JETHRO WOOD CAST IRON PLOW. 

To Jethro Wood, a resident of Cayuga County, the 
country is indebted for the "Cast Iron Plow," in general 
use at the present day. The inventor was born at White 
Creek, Washington County, N. Y., March 16, 1774, and died 
in the town of Ledyard, Cayuga County, N. Y., Sept. 18, 
1834, in the sixty-first year of his age. He married at the 
age of nineteen, and seven years afterwards, in 1800, he 
moved with his little family to Scipio. His family occupied 
a log house, two and one-half miles south-east of what is known 
as Poplar Ridge, until he could erect a log house and open a 
clearing on land located three-fourths of a mile west of Poplar 
Ridge which was given him by his father. When the house 
was ready he moved his family into it. In this they lived 
for years until his farm was cleared, when a frame house 
was erected on the same ground and continued to be occu- 
pied until his decease. The house is yet standing, and is 
owned and occupied by Wm. R. Hazard. 

Mr. Wood's mechanical and inventive talent manifested 
itself at an early age. It is said when only five years old he 
commenced his experiments. He melted his mother's pewter 
spoons to cast a mould-board for a little plow, and cut the 
small buckles from his father's harness to complete one for 
the cat to draw the plow with. These early attempts were 



118 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

suppressed, for awhile at least, by the old fashioned whip- 
ping that followed, and no active efforts were made in that 
direction again until after marriage. At the time of his 
first settlement in this County, the condition of the country 
was such that plows were not a necessity under the then 
system of cultivation. Mr. Wood, long before the country 
was really in condition for the plow, began his experiments, 
and turnips and potatoes were shaped by his knife and hands 
into miniature plows, as models of form. He commenced 
active experiments in Scipio as early as 1812, and his first 
})atent was obtained July 1, 1814, and his patent for the 
})low in its perfected form, Se})tember 1, 1819. 

When or where his first plow was cast, is uncertain, as 
several localities claim the credit. One of Wood's plows, 
and it is believed by many to be the first, was cast under a 
tree standing at the time on the ground now occupied by the 
residence of David Raymond, at Poplar Eidge. The iron 
was melted in a broken potash kettle lined with clay. Char- 
coal was used for fuel, and an ordinary blacksmith's bellows 
furnished the blast. Mr. Wood and Mr. Asa Shourds, fur- 
nished the power. The patterns were made of wood by a 
carpenter and joiner residing in the vicinity, with the aid of 
Mr. Wood, who furnished a model made from a potato for 
the occasion. Afterwards he employed Joseph Ridgeway, a 
carpenter and builder who had failed in the business in New 
York, to aid him, and together they spent some six or eight 
months in experiments with the plow for the purpose of 
perfecting it. Mr. Ridgeway, subsequently engaged in the 
manufacture of the Wood plow at Columbus, Ohio, accumu- 
lated a fortune, returned to New York and paid his old 
creditors in full. 

Mr. Wood found great difficulty at first in obtaining the 
proper kind, quality and mixture of iron, which was only 
determined by careful experiment. Mr. Wood also met 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 119 

with great difficulty in introducing his plows among the 
fanners, and was often obliged to give plows away to inti-o- 
duce them. The prejudice against what was termed " Pot 
Metal Mould-boards" was universal. Ho traveled extensively 
himself, and sent agents to all parts of the country to bring 
the plow into use. In his early efforts, vt^ant of skill in the 
foundrymen often compelled him to mould his castings him- 
self, as well as always furnish the patterns at his own cost, 
the foundrymen having no confidence in his success. Furna- 
ces were few and small in those days. In his perfected plow, 
the mould-board was constructed and shaped on scientific 
principles, every inch of the surface being made to bear an 
equal pressure so as to wear alike, and in 1819, his perfected 
plow possessed all the important elements of the plow in use 
at the present day. That patent was extended by act of 
Congress in 1832, the only way that an extension could be 
obtained beyond the original term, which was fourteen 
years. Prior to the extension, defects in the patent laws 
prevented his enforcing his just claims against manufacturers 
who refused to pay. Then followed amendments to the 
patent laws, and expensive suits and trials for his children 
which consumed the extended term. Since this important 
and valuable invention has become without restriction open 
to the public, manufacturers and farmers not only appreciate, 
but acknowledge its value, wdiich fairly estimated in dollars 
would reach the millions. 

" Although previous attempts had been made to construct 
cast plows. Wood's was the first that proved entirely success- 
ful, and through the excellence of his invention and un- 
wearied labors to perfect its manufacture and introduce it 
among the farmers, in connection with its cheapness and 
efficiency, he is justly regarded as the original inventor 
and successful introducer of the plow as now used by the 
farmers of the whole country ; in the same w^ay that to Fulton, 



120 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

the inventor of the present form of the steam-boat, is due 
the credit of placing it successfully in use." 

This is an imperfect history of an invention with which 
the name of Jethro Wood, of Cayuga County, N. Y., will for 
all time be inseparably connected. A man of whom our 
distinguished fellow citizen, the late Secretary Seward, has 
so justly said : " No person has benefitted his country 
pecuniarily more, and no man has been as inadequately 
rewarded." 

I am enabled to present, through the courtesy of an un- 
known source, a few extracts from a little vohune wiitten by 
Mr. Frank Gilbert, entitled "Jethro Wood, Inventor of the 
Modern Plow." What I have already written concerning 
the early conception of a castiron plow by Mr. Wood,| is 
confirmed b}^ the work acknowledged, in which is also told 
the following curious episode, which the author thinks 
strikingly illustrative of the perversities of fortune to Mr. 
Wood, in the gloomy days when he was laboring to win 
appreciation for his valuable invention. 

The author says : " It is a story of a Czar and a Citizen," 
and continues : 

" All uncertainty as to the feasability of the new plow 
having been removed, and actuated by that broad philanthropy 
which was one of the peculiar charms in the character of Mr. 
Wood, he desired to extend as widely as possible the area of 
his usefulness, and concluded to make the Czar of Russia, 
so long the chief grain exporting country of the world, the 
present of one of his plows. During the Revolutionary war, 
then fresh in the American mind, that great sovereign, 
Catherine of Russia, had been the staunch friend of this 
country, and that, too, without being impelled by jealousy of 
Great Britain. It seems to be a peculiar trait in the Roman- 
off family to admire liberty in the abstract, however absolute 
in practice. Sharing the prevailing good will toward Russia, 




JETHRO "WOOD. 



{By the courtesy of Messrs. Rhodes & McClure, Chicago, publishers of 

" Jethro Wood, Inventor of the Modern Plow." 

12 mo., p. T2, Chicago, 1883.) 



122 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

Mr. Wood conceived this happy thought of making a truly 
substantial contribution to Cossack civilization, a civilization 
ever ready, with all its crudeness, to adopt foreign improve- 
ments. That gift, in one point of view slight, proved of 
great benefit to Russian Agriculture. It is impossible to 
state the extent of actual advantage derived by Russia from 
that truly imperial gift. It was in effect giving to that 
country, second only to the United States in area of tillage, 
in proportion to population, the free use of the perfected 
plow. In an old copy of the New York IVibune, in its 
palmy days of Horace Greeley and Solon Robinson, the tale 
of the Plow and the Ring is unfolded. It runs thus :"' 

"'During the year 1820, Jethro Wood sent one of his 
plows to Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, and the peculiar 
circumstances attending the gift and its reception formed a 
large part of the newspaper gossip of the day. Wood, though 
a man of cultivation, intellectually as well as agriculturally, 
was not familiar with French, which was then as now the 
diplomatic language. So he requested his personal friend, 
Dr. Samuel Mitchell, President of the New York Society of 
Natural History and Sciences, to write a letter in French to 
accompany the gift.' " 

" ' The Autocrat of all the Russias received the plow and 
letter, and sent back a diamond ring — which the newspapers 
declared to be worth from $7,000 to $16,000— in token of 
his appreciation. By some indirectioji, the ring was not 
delivered to the donor of the plow, but to the writer of the 
letter, and Dr. Mitchell instantly appropriated it to his own 
use. Wood appealed to the Russian Ministerat Washington 
for redress. The Minister sent to his Emperor and asked to 
whom the ring belonged, and Alexander replied that it was 
intended for the inventor of the plow. Armed with this 
authority, Wood again demanded the ring of Mitchell. But 
there were no steamships or telegraphs in those days, and 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 123 

Mitchell declared that in tlie long interval in which they had 
been waiting to hear from Russia, he had given it to the 
cause of the Greeks, who were then rising to throw off the 
•yoke of their Turkish oppressors. A newspaper of that time 
calls Mitchell's course ' an ingenious mode of quartering on 
the enemy,' and the inventor's friends seem to have believed 
that the ring had been sold for his benefit. At all events it 
never came to light again, and Wood, a peaceful man, a 
Quaker by profession, did not push the matter further.' " 

" Perhaps another and quite as potent a reason why 
Friend Wood did not follow up this matter was that 
weightier affairs demanded his immediate and entire attention. 
One difficulty was overcome only to develop another. No 
sooner had he silenced the cavils of the farmers and demon- 
strated the value of his patent, than infringements upon his 
rights threatened to, and actually did, rob him of the fruits 
of his invention." ****** 

" Not even the cruel wrongs he sustained at the hands of 
dishonest infringers could turn the sweetness of his kindly 
temper. Nature had endowed him richly every way, and 
no gift had been abused. Physically, his was the highest 
type of manly beauty. Six feet and two inches in height, 
perfect in proportion, courtly in manner, his presence was 
worthy his character." 

The subsequent labors of Benjamin Wood, the son of 
Jethro Wood, who received the invention of his father as a 
legacy, were full of zeal, energy, trials, disappointments and 
untiring labor, which finally resulted in an unequivocal 
decision by the Circuit Court at Albany, after a three days' 
trial, that the plow then in general use all over the country 
was unlike any other, and that the improvements which 
rendered it so effective were due solely to Jethro Wood, and 
that all manufacturers must pay his heirs for the privilege of 
making it. Although this triumph was great, the patent 



124 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

had little more than a year to run, and while Benjamin 
Wood was exerting his efforts with a fair degree of success, 
for its extension, he suddenly fell dead, while conversing 
with one of his friends, of heart disease, and the patent 
expired without renewal. 

On settling the affairs of the estate, it was found that 
less than five hundred and fifty dollars liad ever been 
received from tliis important invention. 

Subsequent efforts by the remaining heirs, consisting of 
four daughters, to obtain provision and protection, in whose 
interests the exclasive right of making and vending the im- 
provements of the plow should rest for seven years, were 
made, and a bill providing that twenty-five cents on' each 
plow made might be exacted, passed the Senate unanimously. 
In the House, the bill was killed by the money of the plow 
manufacturers, who then swarmed in Washington, and the 
two younger of the Quaker sisters who had been most active 
in the matter retired defeated, and we may add defrauded. 
The very documents which had been used in their suit and 
which some friendly (?) members of Congress advised them 
to deposit in Washington, mysteriously disappeared ; nor from 
that time to this have they been seen or heard of ; and thus 
has perished the last vestige of proof of their father's in ■ 
ventive and incomparably beneficial genius. 
. Avery Babbitt, another inventor of Cayuga County, was 
born in Bennington, Vermont, September 1, 1806. Died at 
Slaterville, in Tompkins County, September 12, 1872. He 
learned the carpenter and joiner trade, and followed the bus- 
iness until 1843. For some time prior to his removal 
to Auburn, which was in 1838, he resided in Locke, in this 
County. 

In 1847, Mr, Babbitt superintended the construction of 
the first carpet looms for use in Barber's Carpet Factory. 
He obtained his first patent on looms, October 8, 1850, and 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 125 

subsequently other patents were granted him for improve- 
ments on bolt-cutters, prismatic lathes, loop machines, etc. 
Looms were manufactured by himself, and under the firm 
name of Babbitt & Hickey, quite extensively, and are now 
in use not only in Auburn, but in Philadelphia and other 
places. He was original in his conceptions and undertak- 
ings, one of the best mechanics in the County, fixed in pur- 
pose, energetic and persistent in whatever he undertook, and 
he filled wnth great credit, if not with profit to himself, an 
im})ortant place in the mechanical and industrial progress of 
this County. 

The name of Calvin Young, another inventor of Cayuga 
County, appears on the records of the patent office. He was 
born in Auburn, June 31, 1830. A natural mechanic, his 
tastes in that .direction were manifested at an early age. 
When but fourteen years of age, he constructed a fire engine 
which did excellent service in extinguishing a fire which 
occurred in Court Street, before the somewhat tardy " City 
Firemen " of that day, reached the ground with their appa- 
ratus. 

In early life, through the kindness of the late Cyrus C. 
Dennis, he was afforded opportunities in the machine shops 
carried on in the prison under the superintendence of Wm. 
H. Hudson, one of the best mechanics of that day, from 
whose instructions he derived great benefit in after life. 
These opportunities were further improved upon under Mr. 
Avery Babbitt when constructing the first carpet looms for 
Barber's Carpet Factory. Subsequently, he was employed 
in Brooklyn and Buffalo, in building tools and machinery 
for manufacturing saddlery and harness hardware. He was 
also employed for a time, in the Auburn and Syracuse Kail 
Eoad shops. In 1850, he entered into partnership with O. 
H. Burdick, in building straw cutters, and subsequently 
engaged with Beardsley, Keeler and Curtis, as assistant fore- 



126 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

man, and continned in that position until the expiration of 
their prison contract, about three years, when John Curtis 
obtained the contract and was succeeded by Sheldon & Co., 
Mr. Young continuing as foreman through all the changes. 
As foreman for Sheldon & Co., in 1858, he superintended 
the construction of the first Wheeler machines manufactured 
in the prison, and from that time to the present has been 
intimately connected with their manufacture. 

His first patented invention was a bullet machine, the 
main features of which were appropriated by others, and 
from which, by reason of a defect in his patent, he received 
no remuneration. He also obtained two patents on machines 
for upsetting and forming the collars on carriage axles. 
From these lie derived pecuniary advantage. A patent was 
also obtained on self-rake improvements. 

A firm unwavering friend and estimable citizen, with 
opinions of his own, whicli once deliberately formed are not 
easily changed, he does not hesitate to express in plain words 
and at times with much force, his convictions. His life has 
been a successful one, due wholly to his own efforts and 
industry. 

Charles W. Miles, another Cay ug'a County inventor, made 
improvements in carpet looms for which he received a patent. 
The improvement related to the shuttle-box and the shading 
of the figures in carpets. The improvement is in use in this 
city, Pliiladelphia and other places. He also learned his 
trade with Avery Babbitt, in this city. He was born in 
Sennett, Cayuga County, October 18, 1826. For eleven 
years he was engaged in the construction of carpet looms. 
From 1864 to 1867 he was engaged with Avery Babbitt in 
the manufacture of piano stools, since which time he has 
been employed as foreman in the Cayuga Chief, and D. M. 
Osborne & Co.'s Eeaper Factory. Mr. Miles is another self- 
made man, a good mechanic, and an estimable citizen. 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, K Y. 127 

Frederick Van Patten, another inventoi' of Cayuga County, 
was born in the town of Victory, September 22, 1836. At 
the age of sixteen he became an apprentice to the machinist's 
trade, and at the end of three years found employment in 
Colt's Armory, at Hartford, Conn. Here he remained until 
1861, when he accepted a position in the Fire Arms Manu- 
factory of the Remingtons, at Ilion, N. Y. In 1864, he came 
to Auburn, and engaged in the mechanical supervision of the 
manufacture of the E. D. Clapp patent thill coupling, which 
was manufactured in a small way in a part of the City Mills on 
Mechanic Street. To thill couplings, fifth wheels were not 
long after added. More room was required as the business 
increased, and in 1869 a large building was erected on Water 
Street for the purpose. The line of goods manufactured, 
increased, and in 1874 a large factory was erected on Gene- 
see Street, corner of Division. A stock company was formed 
in 1876, and the business has increased from year to year, 
and to-day this company furnish complete sets of forged 
irons for carriages, which, for top-buggies, requires over one 
hundred pieces of hardware. 

Numerous patents have from time to time been granted 
to Mr. Van Patten for imj^rovements in the dies used in the 
drop presses of the establishment for shaping with exactness 
and facility the many different pieces embraced in carriages 
as constructed at the present time. He has also, more 
recently, been granted a patent in conjunction with E. D. 
Clapp, on a machine for rolling the iron for making car- 
riage clips. 

E. D. Clapp, Esq., a natural mechanic and practical car- 
riage maker as well as a practical business man, whose name 
is inseparably connected with the foregoing enterprise, and 
to whom in a great measure the magnitude and success of 
the business is due, is also an inventor ; and to his first inven- 
tion, an improved thill coupling, is due the first establish- 



128 INVENTOKS AST) INVENTIONS 

ment of this business; a business whicli lias grown to such 
astonishing magnitude in so brief a space of time, and which 
to-day is furnishing to carriage makers throughout the coun- 
try a superior class of carriage hardware, and to three hundred 
of the citizens of Auburn constant employment. 

Mr. Clapp was born in the town of Ira, Cayuga County, 
N. Y., November 13, 1828. For the last twenty-five years 
he has been a resident of the city of Auburn. lie learned 
the carriage maker's trade in Ira, and carried it on success- 
fully there, for a time, before moving to Auburn, and he is 
now preparing, in connection with others, to renew the bus- 
iness on a more extensive scale than was ever dreamed of in 
the earlier days of carriage making. 

W. W. Crane, a Cayuga County inventor, though born in 
London, England, October 27, 1820, and learning the machin- 
ist's trade there, has resided here for nearly thirty years. 
He first came to this country in 1848 ; remained but a short 
time and returned to England, and again, in 1851, returned 
to this country where he has since resided. He has obtained 
nine patents, one of which was for an invention of Mrs. Crane 
and himself which was taken out by them jointly, it being 
for a " Self -lubricating Box for Car Axles." 

His first patent was granted in 1857, on a machine for pol- 
ishing morocco leather. His subsequent patents were for 
steam boilers and steam, engines, cou})lings, hangers and 
self-lubricating boxes for shafts, and self-lubricating pulleys. 
Some of these improvements are in extensive use. The self- 
lubricating box and hanger are manufactured in New York 
City, and at Woonsocket Falls, R. I., by different parties, to 
the extent of $10,000 monthly. For six years past Mr. 
Crane has carried on a foundry and machine shop on Water 
Street, Auburn, employing at the present time, twenty-eight 
men on general job work and repairs. M]-. Crane is a good 
mechanic and a worthy citizen. 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 129 

Isaac Stark and Lyman Perrigo are inventors of valuable 
improvements in spoke machines. Their patent was ob- 
tained June 13, 1854, and from that time to the present, 
machines have been made by Perrigo & Co., of Groton, Tomp- 
kins County, N. Y., and the machines are now in use in fif- 
teen difTerent states of the Union. Lyman Perrigo was born 
in the town of Yenice, Cayuga County, November 14, 1821, 
and died in Groton, Tompkins Co., October 15, 1870. He 
was a machinist by trade, a good mechanic, and aimed to 
excel in his chosen field, and every machine and implement 
tliat passed through his liands bore the impress of his me- 
chanical skill and inventive talent. 

Isaac Stark, the co-inventor with Perrigo, died in Genoa, 
Cayuga County, where he resided for a long time previous. 
He was a carpenter by trade, and at one time carried on the 
manufacture of grain cradles and hand hay rakes at that 
place quite extensively. He was a superior mechanic. The 
beauty and finish of his handiwork, was proverbial. In the 
days of harvesting by hand, the man who was able to obtain 
a Stark cradle felt that he had the best irhj^lement of the 
kind in existence, and with a good binder behind him with 
a Stark rake, it was expected that a little more work would 
be accomplished than could be done by any other combina- 
tion of hand tools then in existence. 

Elliott G. Storke, in 1867, established the manufacture of 
iron bench and block planes, which he conducted up to his 
decease. He, as an inventor, has been granted several pat- 
ents for improvements in that class of tools. He was born 
in Aurelius, in this County, June 18, 1811, and died in 
Auburn, Sept. 11, 1879. 

Mr. Storke received a limited common school, and partial 
academic education, which was further improved upon by a 
careful study of books without the aid of teachers. At the 
age of sixteen he engaged in teaching school In 1842 he 



130 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

was appointed County Superintendent of the public schools 
of this County, He next engaged in book publishing. Fi- 
nancial embarrassment in 1856, followed by the panic of 
1857, forced the firm with which he was connected, into li- 
quidation. During the Rebellion, he accumulated material 
for its history, which he published. In 1866, with others, 
he was engaged in organizing the Merchants' Union Express 
Company. 

Mr. Storke was an enterprising man, who, through a long 
and active business life retained the esteem of his fellow 
citizens. 

C. B. Hutchinson, a successful inventor of Cayuga County, 
resided in Auburn, corner of Grover and South Streets, at 
the time of his death, which took place September 12, 1-869. 

Mr. Hutchinson was born in Marion, Wayne County, N. 
Y., September 17, 1818. He learned the machinist's trade, 
and came to Auburn in 1854. Was a natural mechanic and 
inventor, and his inventions exhibited remarkable skill and 
adaptation of means to ends. His inventions mainly per- 
tained to barrel machinery from which he derived consider- 
able advantage, but the public much greater. He also made 
improvements in cider mills and grape presses, which have 
been extensively manufactured and used, and continue to 
be so manufactured and used. He received the sum of 
$20,000.00 for the patent on his cider and grape mill and 
press. 

Charles R Davis, inventor, has been granted a patent on 
a harvester rake, and also on a grain drill. His improve- 
ment on grain drills consists in an application of devices by 
which the operator can change the drill teeth from single to 
double rank, or from a straight line to a zig-zag line, and 
vice versa, by a single movement of a lever. This invention 
is one of much value, and is now in general use, and from it ' 
he has derived considerable pecuniary advantage. Mr. Davis 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



131 



is now a resident of Auburn, and was boi'n in the town of 
Aurelius, Cayuga Co., August 10, 18-15. He farmed it for 
a number of years in Aurelius, on the farm on which he was 
born ; never learned any mechanical trade, but is a natural 
mechanic ; can handle tools skillfully, and generally makes 
his own models and experimental machinery ; is a very 
worthy man and a good citizen. 

INVENTORS IN HARVESTING MACHINERY. 





Fi«. 31.— Sickle of the Bronze Epoch, 
found by M. Dcsor, at Chevroux. 
(Prom Figuier's " Primitive 
Man.") 



Fig. 33.— Sicldu of the Iron Epoch. (From 
Figuier'H " Primitive Man." ) 




Fig. 33. — Egyptian Harvesting Scene ; Application of the Sicklt 



132 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



In harvesting grain, the sickle was probably the earliest 
instrument in use. It is mentioned in Deuteronomy, six- 




Fio. 34.— Sickle of the Moderns. 




Fig. 35.—" The Reaper," (after Millett.) Application of the Sickle. 




Fig. 36.— The "j4ni-a?w," or Reaping Implement of Java, a, Hand-piece ; b, Long 
Spatula, shaped left-hand piece. 

teenth chapter, ninth verse, and again in the twenty-third 
chapter, twenty-fiftli verse. This dates it back for three 
thousand years. 



I 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



133 



In Java, an instrninent known as the '"'■ Ani-ani,'^ and 
costing aljout threepence, is used for gathering or reaping 




Fig. 37. — Application of the "^ni-awi." 

grain. This instrarnent is lield bj the reaper in a pecuhar 
manner, and with it he crops off each separate ear with a 
few inches of the straw. This method of reaping has been 







Fig. 38. — Reaping Machine described bj' Pliny the Elder. 

immemorially practiced in that country and is universally 
followed. 

It has been conjectured that the reaper using the " Ayii- 
anV takes one of the two parts of the implement, (a), in the 
right hand, and the other part, (6), in the left ; and that in 



134 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



passing them over each other hke the blades of shears, the 
straw between them is cut and together with the head of 
grain, falls into an apron or basket worn by the reaper. 

The first mention of a machine for reaping grain, is given 
by Plinj^ the Elder, early in the first century, who describes 
it as a van or cart of large size, with project- 
ing teeth on the edge, which was driven 
through the standing corn by an ox yoked in 
the reverse direction, and used at that time 
in the extensive fields of the lowlands of 
Gaul, and which served to gather the cro]) 
by stripping off the heads. 

The use of this machine is believed to 
have continue<l through centuries, as Palla- 
dius, (an Eastern Prelate and Ecclesiastical 
writer), early in the fifth centuiy describes the same machine. 
When it went out of use is unknown. 




Pig. 39.— Enlarged 
Section of Stripping 
Teeth of Harvesting 
Machine described 
by Pliny the Elder. 
First Centnry. 




Fig. 40.— Modern Harvesting Cradle Scythe. 

The first patent granted for a reaping machine, was in 
England, July 4th, 1799, to Joseph Boyce. This machine 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. 



135 




Fig 



41. — Application of the Harvesting Cradle Scythe. 




Pig. 42.— Scythe of the Iron Epoch, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland, 
(Piguier's "Primitive Man.") 



136 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS. 




Fig. 43.— Application of the Scythe ; Laboring Colons, (12th Century,) after a Miniature 

in a Manuscript of the Ste Chapelle, of tlie National Library of Paris. 

Lacroix. " Bibliophile Jacob." 




Fig. 44.— Scythe of Modern Times ; Used for Mowing Grass. 



138 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS. 

had a series of knives or cutters affixed to the lower end of 
a vertical spindle, which was arranged on wheels, and caused 
to revolve against the grain by being pushed forward from 
behind. In the following year. Letters Patent were granted 
for a meclianical reaper to Robert Meares, of Frome, Somer- 
setshire, on the twentietli of May. 

Various attempts were made and patents granted in Eng- 
land prior to the holding of the World's Fair in 1851, none 
of which had come into use, and all of which had evidently 
been forgotten. The exhibition of McCorniick's and Hus- 
sey's reapers at that time, awakened a fresh interest in John 
Bull on the subject, and a trial in the field convinced him 
that Brother Jonathan was fully a.n\atch for him in peace 
as well as war. 

The earliest patent granted in the United States on Har- 
vesting Machines, was to Richard E'rench and John T. Haw- 
kins, of New Jersey, May 17, 1803, for a machine to cut 
grain. Seventeen patents were granted prior to that of Obed 
Hussej^, December 31, 1833, which was the first really prac- 
tical reaping machine, and contained many of the elements 
of the machines in use at the present day. 

Cyrus H. McCormick's patent was of subsequent date, his 
first being granted June 21, 1834. 

Harvesting machines and Harvesting machinery, have long 
been constructed in this country. Thomas Hussey, brother of 
Obed Hussey, of Baltimore, the inventor of the Hussey Reap- 
ing machine, commenced its manufacture in Auburn about 
1840. They were first constructed in the old oil mill which 
occupied a portion of the ground on which the works of D. 
M. Osborne & Co. now stand, and the machine, in an improved 
form, is now manufactured by I. W. Quick on Mechanic 
Street. Although Mr. Thomas Hussey was long connected 
with the manufacture, I cannot learn that he obtained patents 
for any of his improvements. Mr. Obed Hussey was one of 




CUM 





t»^>.> 




OF CAYUGA COUNTY, JST. Y. 141 

tlie earliest inventors of reaping macliines, and to him the 
credit is dne of devising a cutting apparatus and improving 
the same, that has stood the test of time, and remains sub- 
stantially tliat in general use at the present day, to wit : The 
reciprocating escaloped cutter and the open slotted guard 
finger. 

Among the earliest grants of patents for harvesting 
machines, the name of Wm. A. Kirby appears. Though 
some of his earlier patents were granted to him while a resi- 
dent of Buffalo in this state, he may well be claimed as a 
Cayuga County Inventor. Mr. Kirby was born in the town- 
ship of Scipio, in that part of it now known as the town of 
Ledyard, September 17, 1817, but is now a resident of the 
City of Auburn. His early educational advantages were 
limited and confined to the common school. When but 
twelve years of age, he drove a team on the tow-path of the 
canal from Seneca Falls to Albany and back, taking the 
whole care of the team on the trip. When old enough, he 
learned the carpenter's trade, and followed that occupation 
six years. He farmed it ten years, running a threshing 
machine and clover mill during the fall and winter months 
of four of those years, making all necessary repairs of the 
machines himself. In 1852, and during the summer, he 
removed to Buffalo and entered into the employment of Mr. 
E. B. Forbush of that place, who in July of that year, had 
taken out a patent for improvements in a grain and grass 
harvester. In the construction of the Forbush machine, Mr. 
Kirby afforded valuable aid. 

Mr. Kirby constructed one of those machines for exhibi- 
tion at the State Fair, which was held at Utica that year, 
commencing the work the fourth day of August and com- 
pleting it the fourth day of September, ready for shipment 
to Utica, where it was exhibited at the fair of that season as 
already mentioned. 



142 INVENTOKS AND INVENTIONS. 

The Forbusli rnacliines were manufactured in Buffalo by 
a company of whicli the Smith Brothers were the principal 
parties. The company were sued as infringers of the 
Ketch um patents by the owners tliereof, and were forced to 
discontinue the manufacture. 

From witnessing the operation of the Forbush in the 
field, and witli the view of remedying its defects and at the 
same time avoid the Ketchura patents, Mr. Kirby in 1855, 
undertooic the construction of the Kirby machine which was 
completed in that j^car, and he obtained his first patent April 
15, 1856, and the second, September 2, of the same year. 
The first related to the method of connecting the guard fin- 
gers to the finger bar, and projecting rivet heads and spaces 
in connection with the cutters and fingers. The patent of 
September 2, 1856, contained the important feature of pivot- 
ing the main driving and supporting wheel to an arm which 
was in turn- hinged to the frame of the machine concentric 
to the first gear shaft ; which arrangement permitted the 
wheel to swing on its hinged connection with the gear frame, 
independent of it and the frame ; and the cutting apparatus 
connected therewith to rise and fall independent of the up 
and down motions of the road wheel. A seat for the driver 
was pivoted to the frame of the machine and fulcrumed on 
the axle and its arm, so that the weight of the driver was 
added to the wheel to give it suflicient adhesion to the ground 
to drive the cutters, and at the same time relieve the cutting 
apparatus and frame from undue pressure on the ground, 
when used in mowing; by tliis arrangement of the wheel 
and frame, the cutting apparatus could be set at different 
heights from the ground for reaping grain. 

To an understanding of this arrangement, and its distinc- 
tive diiJereuce from the Forbusli machine, it may be stated 
that in the Forbush machine, the main driving and road 
wheel was rigidly connected to the frame of the machine so 




Fig. 48.— ForbushMachine as a Mower. 




Fig. 49.— Forbush Machine as a Reaper. 



144 IISrVENTOKS AND INVENTIONS. 

that tlie frame work and cutting apparatus partook of the 
up and down movements of the wheel wlien passing over 
the ground ; the cutter apparatus at its inner end or point of 
connection with the frame, being influenced by the vertical 
movements of the main wheel, which by the arrangement of 
the Kirby devices was avoided. 

The Forbush was constructed with bracket connections 
between the frame work and finger bar, by which means, 
the cutting apparatus could be set at varying heights for 
converting it into a reaper. In this respect, the Forbush 
was an improvement on the Ketch um machine, which could 
only be converted into a reaper, by an enlargement of the 
main wheel by bolting lugs or segment rims to its periphery, 
which admitted only of a limited adjustment in the height 
of the cutting apparatus. 

The controlling feature in the Ketchum machine, was an 
unohstruciecl space between the driving wheel and the finger 
bar and its supports. In this respect the Forbush and the 
Ketchum machines were alike ; but in the Kirby, the finger 
bar was extended at its inner end, close to the main wheel, 
thus closing substantially the open space between the wheel 
and cutting apparatus ; the independent up and down move- 
ment of the wheel j)ermitting the cutting apparatus to fol- 
low the ground in mowing. 

Mr. Kirby has from time to time made improvements in 
his machine which was, with the Ketchum and Forbush 
types, denominated " one-wheeled machines." He has also 
made improvements in two-wheeled machines and revolving 
reel rakes, for all of which he has obtained patents, number- 
ing in all, on harvesters, seventeen, besides several others for 
improvements in other depai'tments of which it is not neces- 
sary to more particularly speak. 

The manufacture of the Kirby machine was commenced 
in Buffalo, K Y., by the Buffalo iVgricultural Works, Mr. 



146 



INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 



D. M. Osborne, being one of the company. In 1858, two 
liundi'ed of these machines were manufactured in Auburn, 
by Mr. O. H. Bnrdick, for Osborne & Ilolbrook, the firm 




Fig. 51.— Early Kirby Machine. 

consisting of D. M. Osborne and O. I. Holbrook. In 1859 
the firm of D. M. Osborne & Co. was formed for the manu- 
facture of these machines in Auburn. D. M. Osborne, Cyrus 
C. Dennis and Charles P. Wood composed the firm. Mr. 
Wood retired in 1862, and Mr. Dennis (bed in 1866. After 
the death of Mr. Dennis, Mr. John II. Osborne and Mr. O. 
JJ. Burdick became partners. These machines continued to 







FiQ. 52.— LalcT Kiiby Mac 

be manufactured extensively by the firm up to 1875, when 
the Cayuga Chief Manufacturing Company became consoli- 
dated with the Co., and organized under the manufacturing 
laws of the state as a stock company under the name and 
style of D.' M. Osborne & Co. 



148 INVENTORS AND IMVENTIONS. 

In 1880, the number of niacliines manufactured by this 
company reached 16,000, and the company furnished employ- 
ment for one thousand of the citizens of Auburn. 

The Kirby machine continued to be manufactured at Buf- 
falo and at Cambridge City, Indiana ; and in limited num- 
bers for a short time at other points. The whole number of 
machines of the Kirby type manufactured up to the present 
time will not fall short of 120,000. 

It is believed that six years is about the average life time 
of machines in use, and that they average a yearly use of 
about eighteen days, or one hundred and eight days use in 
the life of the machine. A saving of $12.00 })er day over 
the performance of the same work by hand, is, without doubt 
made, or $1,296.00 for each machine, or $155,552.00 is saved 
to the farming public and the country over hard manual 
labor, by the use of the Kirby machine alone. The magni- 
tude of these figures is surprising, but they fall far short of 
the saving made by the later combined harvester and binder 
constructed by D. M. Osborne & Co. at the present time, which 
has the capacity to cut and deliver in bundles, twenty acres 
of grain daily, a saving of nearly double that made by the 
ordinary harvester. 

Machines manufactured at Auburn by D. M. Osborne & 
Co., now find a market in nearly all of the grass and grain 
growing portions of the habitable globe ; and they are in use 
as aids in gathering the harvests of the world every month 
in the year. To-day, though mid-winter here, the click of 
Auburn manufactured machines is heard by our antipodes 
in far off Australia and South America as they sweep down 
and gather into bundles the ripened grain of those countries. 

Mr. Kirby removed his family to Auburn in 1863, though 
he for several years previous had spent the most of his time 
in this city. Mr. Kirby in early life was without pecuniary 
means, and for j^ears it was an unceasing but uncomplaining 



150 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

struggle with poverty. With fixed purpose and a courage 
that was equal to the occasion, untiring industry marked liis 
efforts, and success was the result. 

Mr. H. Burdick, another inventor of Cayuga County, 
has also for a long time been closely coimected with the 
reaping and mowing machine industry of the County. To 
him has been granted several patents for improvements made 
by him in harvesting machiner}'. The first bears date June 
7th, 1864, and was for an improvement in self-rakes ; a rake 
that was ai-ranged to sweep in the arc of a circle across a 
quadrant shaped platform, and had a rising and falling mo- 
tion so that it could make the return movement without dis- 
turbing the accumulating grain on the platform. This rake 
was operated in conjunction with a reel rotating on a hori- 
zontal axis. This was used on machines manufactured by 
D. M. Osborne & Co. about two years, and was followed by a 
further improvement by Mr. Burdick, which was a rake of 
another type, known as the reel rake, and on which he 
obtained a patent dated Februaiy 27, 1866. This lattei", was 
further improved' and a patent obtained therefor, December 
8, 1868. In this tj'pe of rakes, the opei'ation of gathering 
and bringing the grain to the cutters and laying it on the 
platform, as well as discharging it therefrom in gavels suit- 
able for binding, is performed by the same organized mech- 
anism, instead of by separate devices, as with the first named 
rake. It was extensively used on the Kirby machines and 
on a machine oi'ganized expressly for its use and known as 
the "Burdick Eeaper." About 35,000 of these rakes have 
been made and sold up to the present time, 

Mr. Burdick also obtained a patent in conjunction with 
Mr. O. F. Daggett, for improvements in two-wheeled mow- 
ers, which has also been constructed by Messrs. D. M. 
Osborne & Co. He has also obtained patents for fastenings 
for foundrymen's flasks, photograph printer's frames, and for 
a vegetable slicer. 



152 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

Mr. Orrin H. Bardick was born in Brookfield, Madison 
Coiintv, N. Y., November 14, 1814. His parents moved 
from tliere to Cortland County, when he was but two years 
ohl. Ilis educational advantages were confined to the com- 
mon school, and for a very Hmited time onl3^ When eight 
years old he worked in a machine shop, and from that early 
age was dependent on his own I'csources for a livelihood. 
He mastered the machinist's trade, and in the spring of 1835, 
when twenty-one years of age, he came to Auburn and found 
employment in the shop of Burgess and Sprague, which stood 
at that time on the same ground now occupied by the D. M. 
Osborne & Co. factory, on Mechanic Street. The firm was 
engaged in manufacturing saddler's and harness maker's 
tools. He remained in Auburn until 1841, wlien he moved 
to Port Byron, and found em[)loyment for two years in the 
machine slidp of E. P. Ross and Jonathan Seymour, on mill 
and job work ; after which, he found employment for three 
years with David Anthony at Union Springs on similar work. 

In 1847, Mr. Burdick returned to Aubui-n and was em- 
ployed in constructing machinery and building the first car- 
pet looms for Barber's Carpet Factory, and personally started 
all of them when completed. Afterwards, he started a shop 
and manufactured straw cutters for Watro us and Osborne on 
contract, and subsequently for the firm of Osborne, Barker 
k Baldwin, until Mr. D. M. Osborne bouglit out his partners 
and assumed the manufacture himself, employing Mr. Bur- 
dick by the year, Mr. Burdick furnishing tools. 

Subsequently, Mr. Burdick purchased a building on Water 
Street, where he started a shop for general job work and 
repairs, and in 1857, manufactured on contract for Dean, 
Mackin and Alden, the Wheeler machines, the first of that 
type manufactured in Auburn. In the fall of that year, he 
moved to the corner of Genesee and Mechanic Streets, where 
he manufactured for Osborne & Holbrook, two hundred 



'I'l! lyitlliiiiifli Ill 'l'pf(#{il"',i«'^-^ 




ISi INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS. 

Kirby machines, the first of that type made in this County. 
From that time to the present date he has been identified 
with the construction of the machines manufactured by D. 
M. Osborne & Co., in Auburn. Mr. Burdick is a self-made 
man, who with few advantages, by perseverance and strict 
attention to business has achieved success. ■ 

In this connection, it is proper to mention another Cayuga 
County inventor, whose name is inseparably connected with 
the reaping machine industry of this County. His patented 
inventions relate to pitman connections for harvesters, and 
whilst the inventor, the Hon. D. M. Osborne, nia}^ not claim 
that his particular forte is invention, he posesses, it will be 
admitted, in an eminent degree tliat business capacity as a 
manufacturer which goes far towards making inventions a suc- 
cess. He was born in Harrison, Westchester County, N. Y., 
December 15, 1822. In early days was a clerk in a hard- 
ware store in New York City. He came to Auburn in 1848, 
and engaged in the manufactui'e of Straw cutters on the cor- 
ner of Genesee and Mechanic Streets, and subsequently, as I 
have stated, in the manufacture of the Kirby machine in the 
same building in which the ofiice of D. M. Osborne & Co. 
now is, in 1858 ; which has been enlarged from time to time 
as the requirements of the constantly increasing business 
denjanded, until it has reached a magnitude that he, at its 
early inception, could scarcely have anticipated, Witli the 
enterprise and business capacity of an Osborne, and the 
inventive talent of a Kirby and Burdick united, success was 
assured. 

John A. Dodge, another inventor of Cayuga County, was 
born in Dutchess County, in this State, and became a resident 
of this County in 1833, with his father. Doctor David L. 
Dodge, who settled at Union Springs in that year, and for 
man}^ years was a practicing physician there. When a young 
man, he clerked it for his brother-in-law, George Mosher, 








Fig. 57.— Early Whteler Machine. 1854-5. 




Fig. 58.— Cutting Apparatus of First Wlieeler Machine, 1853. 



166 INVENTOKS AND INVENTIONS 

who kept a store at Poplar Ritlgc. He afterwards became a 
Rail Road contractor, and subsequently a coal dealer in tbis 
city, and in 1858, became- the managing head of the firm of 
Ross, Dodge and Pomeroy, which firm engaged in the man- 
ufacture of small agricultural tools and wlieel-barrows in 
Auburn Prison. They also engaged, (in__coiniection with 
Sheldon & Co., who had a contract in the prison,) in the 
manufacture of what was then known as the Wheeler Com- 
bined Mower and Reaper. Subsequently they engaged in 
the manufacture of the Ball machine; Sheldon & Co. taking 
the Wheeler. Alter this Mr. Ross and Mr. Pomeroy retired, 
and the Ball n>achine was superseded by' what was known as 
the Dodge machine, and an incorporated company, know as 
the Dodge and Stevenson Manufacturing Co., engaged quite 
extensively in its manufacture. 

On this machine Col. Dtxlge obtained seven patents indi- 
vidually, and two in connection with others. One with 
George Perry of this city, and another with Wm. H. Steven- 
son then residing here. These patents were principally im- 
provements relating to the reel rake, and were of considerable 
importance. The improvements consisted of devices which 
governed the reeling and raking mechanism ; the switch and 
roller controlling the arms being arranged outside of the 
pivoted axis of the arms. 

The company went into liquidation, and in 1874, Beards- 
ley, Wheeler & Co. puichased, with the patterns and parts of 
the machine, a shop right under those patents. The other 
interests in the rake patents were previously sold by the 
company to a certain firm of Reaper manufacturers for the 
sum of seventy-five thousand dollars. Col. Dodge is now a 
resident of New York City and has a broker's office in Wall 
Street. 

In the department of harvesting machinery inventions, 
the name of Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., appears. Thirty-nine 



I -WW M 



^-*4P1 




158 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS. 

patents were granted to him in that class, and several in other 
classes to which it is not necessary to i-efer particularly. 

His first patents, and perhaps the most important ones, 
bear date December 5th, 1854, and February 6th, 1855. 
Prior to this time, machines had been constructed with 
rigid finger bars. These improvements consisted in sup- 
porting the frame work and gearing of the machine on two 
wheels, and connecting the finger bar by hinges, and provid- 
ing levers for lifting and rocking it, so as to elevate or de- 
press the points of the cutters. In 1B54, a platform, reel, 
and raker's seat were added, thus making it a c(jmbined 
machine. In the winter of 1855 a self-rake was applied and 
used in the harvest of 1856 quite successfully in standing 
grain. On these improvements patents were obtained, and 
from that time onward successive patents were obtained for 
other improvements made, to none of which particular refer- 
ence need be made, except that of February 9th, 1864, 
which was for a combination and arrangement of gearing, 
rendering it more compact and better adapted to the purpose 
of casing or boxing. The first machine was made at Poplar 
Ridge, Cayuga County, in a shop carried on by Shourds and 
Mosher, and the first trial was made one mile south of there 
on the farm of the inventor. The cutting apparatus used at 
that time was an arrangement of pivoted shears. — See Fig. 
58. 

The trial was made in grass soaked by recent rains, and 
was satisfactory ; but the following season's use of the same 
kind of cutters developed the fact that those cutters 
were better adapted to wet than dry grass, and the 
Hussey cutters and fingers were substituted in their 
place. These machines continued to be manufactured at 
Poplar Pidge up to 1860, reaching several hundred in 
number annually, when the establishment was moved to 
Aurora and continued there up to 1866. After the harvest 




l^^f^M 









Fio. 60.— Wheeler Machine of 1857. 




Fig. 61.— Wheeler Machine of 1858-59. 



loo INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS. 

of that season, it became consolidated as a stock company, 
with the Bnrtis and Beardsley, and Barber, Sheldon & Co. 
firms, who were manufacturers of the same machine at 
Aulnirn, under the name and style of the Cayuga Chief 
Manufacturing Company. This company, in 1875, became 
consolidated with D. M. Osborne & Co. as a stock company, 
under the continued name of D. M. Osborne & Co., which 
firm continues their manufacture at the present time. 

In 1857, Orrin H. Burdick manufactured about one 
hundred of these machines for Dean, Machachin & Alden. 
In 1858, Ross, Dodge and Pomeroy, in connection with 
.Sheldon & Co., manufactured the same machines in the 
prison, and Barber, Sheldon & Co., who succeeded Sheldon 
& Co. in the prison, continued their manufacture up to 1866. 

Several thousands of these machines were manufactured at 
Alliance, Ohio, and in lesser numbers at other places. 

From 1854 up to the present time not less than 85,000 
Wheeler machines have been manufactured in this country, 
and the whole number of two- wheeled hinged finger-bar 
machines manufactured in this country, up to the present 
time, will not fall shoriof 940,000. 

The several modifications of machines of the "Wheeler 
Type," are very distinctly shown Vjy the several and pre- 
ceding cuts. The earliest, or 1854 machine, was destroyed 
before any picture of the same was obtained, but Fig. 57 is a 
fair representation thereof with the exception of the cutting 
ap])aratus, which was somewhat difl^erent, and is shown 
clearly in Fig. 58. 

Fig. 59 shows the machine as used for mowing in 1856. 
The same macliine was also used for reaping, the platform 
and reel not being shown in the illustration. 

Fig. 60 is a modification of the same machine, as used in 
1857 ; and Fig. 61 shows another modification as the 
machine was used in the years of 1858 and 1859. 



fe ,.:^:i:i''iiiili!l!ftll^^^^ 




, f )ff M 









"■''I'll' 











-JcS 



4^1 




Fig. 67.—" Cayuga Ohief, Jr."— Mower of 1861. 




Fig. 68.— "Cayuga Chief, Jr."— on the Road, 1861. 




mmmM^mmm 




Fig. 75.— Wheeler Mower No. 6, with Cover Eaised to Show Gearing. 



'"I 

HI* 



il( i 



liisi 





M 



*^ii 



j>ifii 



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IUilllU[IIIIMI!ll»lllllie(»UeiU9tllU!kM9ltllSli!enilllllll(lll)!ltlllIllill»>lklI3itilllbt i:iiii iiiiklfiiituunlllilj 



f^ .i-flf: 




178 INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

In 1860, the construction of the machine was changed by 
substituting wrought iron and steel for wood, and the 
distinctive name of " Cayuga Chief," adopted for it. Fig. 
62 represents the machine as a mower, and Fig. 63 shows 
the finger bar folded and the machine on the road. This 
system of folding the finger bar around by the side of the 
machine, as shown, was adopted in the earlier machines and 
was covered by letters patent. 

Fig. 64 represents the machine as used in 1860, for reaping. 
Fig. 65 represents the same machine as used for reaping in 
in 1861, an " overhanging reel " being used. Fig. 66 repre- 
sents a smaller sized " Cayuga Chief No. 2," as used for 
reaping in the year of 1862. 

Fig. 67, represents a small mower, called t]ie "Cayuga 
Chief, Jr.," as used in 1862 ; and Fig. 68 shows the same 
machine with the finger bar folded, and on the road. 

Fig. 69 represents the " Cayuga Chief No. 1," in use as a 
"Dropper" in 1864. 

Fig. 70 shows a one-wheeled self-raking reaper as used in 
1866, and known as tiie " Auburn Harvester." 

Fig. 71 is the " No. 1, Cayuga Chief," as used in the har- 
vest of 1867, with the Johnston self-rake applied. 

Fig. 72 represents the " Cayuga Chief," with seif-r:ike 
attachment as used in 1868, two of the heads being what is 
known as "rolling heads." The same machine is shown in 
Fig. 73, with all " rolling head " rakes* and a different mod- 
ification of the driving chain as in use in 1869 and 1870. 

Fig. 74 represents the Wheeler No. 6 as a mower in use 
in 1872. Fig. 75 shows the same machine with the protect- 
ing cover raised to exhibit the arrangement of the gearing. 

Fig. 76 represents the No. 6 as a " Self Raking Reaper " 
and as used in 1873. The same machine is shown in Fig. 
77, with the finger bar and platform folded up, for traveling 
on the road, and Fig, 78 represents the "Wheeler front-cut 



OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y. l70 

Mower " of 1881, and known at the present time as the 
"Osborne No. 2, Independent Mower." 

In conclusion it may be stated that in preparing this arti- 
cle for the press, in the spring of 1882, it has been deemed 
advisable to introduce cuts to illustrate the descriptive matter 
and give a better understanding of the several subjects and 
their various stages of progress to the present state of devel- 
opment. 

Note.— The preceding paper was read before the Society on the evening of December 
21, 1880, instead of September 21, 1880 as set forth in sub-title, p. 91. 




SUPPLEMENT TO 

THE INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS 

OF CAYUGA COUNTY, N. Y." 



Read before the Cayuga County Historical Society, at Auburn, N. Y. 
December 21st, 1880. 

BY DAVID M. OSBORNE. 




SUPPLEMENT TO "THE INVENTORS AND 
INVENTIONS OF CAYUGA COUNTY." 




R PRESIDENT :— I have 
one reason for regretting 
that some other member of 
this Society had not been 
charged with the work of 
writing a paper on "Inven- 
tors and 2 Inventions of 
Cayaga County," and that 
reason is, that ; while no 
man understands the sub- 
ject better or is better able to write such a paper than Mr. 
Wheeler, his modesty is so sensitive that he cannot speak of 
one inventor of Cayuga County with that freedom that 
another might. I therefore wisli, with your permission, to 
add a short postscript to Mr. Wheeler's paper, and pay my 
tribute of respect to his inventive genius and to his industry 
and perseverance. 

Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., was born March 21st, 1817, in the 
town of Seekonk, Bristol Co., Mass., about three miles from 
Providence, R. I. When two years old his father moved to 



184 SUPPLEMENT. 

Fall River, where be engaged in building cotton machinery 
and manufacturing cotton cloth. At an early age Mr. 
Wheeler worked in the machine shop and factory, beginning 
in the lowest and working up to the highest department, 
and at the age of 17 years was able to perform all the 
different operations required to convert the raw material into 
cloth. In 1835 he came with his father to this County, and 
settled on a fafiu one mile south of Poplar Ridge, vvIku'C lie 
lived for 29 years. Mr. Wheeler was a pretty good farmer, 
but his mind ran to machinery, and I judge from the com- 
plete workshops and the number of ex[)erimental machines 
which can now be seen about the farm where he spent those 
29 years, that he was more intent in the invention and , im- 
provement of agricultui'al machinery than in hoeing his corn, 
or weeding his onions ; and the Seed planters. Straw cutters, 
Horse Pitch Forks, and Mowing and Reaping Machines on 
his own fai-m testify to a busy life well spent in study and 
experiment. 

He also experimented in his fai'ming opei'ations, and kept 
careful records of his tests extending through many years. 
But his most successful inventions were in the line of 
Mowing and Reaping Machines, and his crops on his farm 
were largel}^ used and often sacrificed in practical tests of his 
inventions. 

Manufacturers were slow in acknowledging and the farmers 
slow in applying his inventions, as has been the experience 
with nearly all inventors ; but his industry and perseverance 
finally triumphed, and his success is attested by the fact that 
there is scarcely a Mowing or Reaping machine made in the 
world that does not carry on it some mark of Mr. Wheeler's 
invention, and I am glad to say that as long as his patents 
lived those inventions were acknowledged and royalties were 
paid for their use. 

To attain this success, Mr. Wheeler has had to live a very 



SUPPLEMENT. 185 

active life. He has told me that in the year 1863 he trav- 
eled in 18 States over 23,000 miles, including 40 trips between 
Poplar Ridge, where he Hved, and Auburn. 

It is to such men as Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Kirbj, Mr. Bur- 
dick and Mr. Obed Hussey, who have devoted their lives to 
the imi)rovement of machinery, by drawing from the sinews 
of iron and steel the work which but for them would have 
to be done by human labor, this country is largely indebted 
for its progress in the mechanic arts and the immense strides 
it is making in the development of. its resources, and in tak- 
ing its place, as it surely is, as the first nation of the world, 
first in resources, first in wealth, first in culture, and first in 
civilization. 

It is the product of the brains of such men that enabled us 
to feed and maintain our army in the War of the Rebelhon ; 
the old men, women and children gathering the harvests, 
while the young men were fighting the battles. It enables the 
farmers of Cayuga County to do their own work, and send 
their sons and daughters to people the boundless prairies of 
Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota. It enables the almost count- 
less emigrants from the Old World to settle and make homes, 
in our forests. It enables one man to cut and bind twenty 
acres of grain in a day, instead of two acres, (and this has- 
been done in your life-time, Mr. President.) It enables this 
country to grow a yearly surplus of two hundred million 
bushels of grain to send to the hungry people of Europe ; 
and it enables a citizen of Cayuga County to say, that we 
have in this City (and I say this without egotism, but with 
the same honest pride which you or any one may say it), the 
largest manufactory of Harvesting Machinery there is in the 
workl. 

When the future writer on the suljject of " Inventors and 
Inventions of Cayuga County," or of the State of New York, 
shall read his paper before your Society, he will place high 



186 SUPPLEMENT. 

up in the list of names of men who have devoted their lives 
to invention and to improvements of the age, and who have 
done their country good and faithful service, the name of 
Cjrenus Wheeler, Jr.; for his name is inseparably connected 
with the history of harvesting machinery, and will remain 
so as long as the ripening grain shall wave over our hills and 
our valleys, and as long as this Republic remains true to its 
gratitude for her sods who work for her glory. 




CAYUGA COUNTY 



Historical Society 



COLLFXTIONS 



Number Three. 



COLLECTIONS 



OF 



CAYUGA COUNTY 



Historical Society. 



AUBURN, N. Y. 



Number Three. 



1884. 






Gift 



EARLY CHAPTERS 



OF 



SENECA HISTORY 

JESUIT MISSIONS IN SONNONTOUAN, 
I 656- 1 684 ; 

WITH 

ANNUAL ADDRESSES, i883-'84. 



BY CHARLES HAWLEY, D. D., 

President of the Society. 



AUBURN, N. Y. 
1884. 



TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES. 

Number 



Knapp, Peck & Thomson, 
Book, Job and Commercial Printers. 

Al'Bl-RN, N. Y. 



)hl 



~r 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

PrEP'ACE, - 7 

Jesuit Missions Amonc, the Senegas, .... g_8g 

Sixth Annual Address, 91-10S 

Seventh Annual Address, k^q-iSS 

AliSTRACT OF PkOCEEDINGS OF ANNUAL MEETINGS, 1S78-84, I37-I44 

By-Laws, 145-149 

Officers and Members, - 150-152 



PREFACE. 

The plan of the present work is similar to that of the 
Early Chapters of Cayuga History, issued in 1879, as the first 
of a series intended to include a complete account of the 
missionary labors of the French Jesuit Fathers, in the several 
Iroquois cantons, in the last half of the seventeenth centurv 
It has the same distinctive feature, in the use made of the 
Relations for the purposes of local history, which belongs to 
the previous publication. These records of two centuries ago, 
are allowed to tell their own story of devotion and heroism, 
while they also serve a most trustworthy guide to the re- 
searches of the antiquarian, topographer, and local histoi-ian 
as will be seen in the notes to the translations in the text, 
and the accompanying map. 

The writer would acknowledge his indebtedness, as in the 
preparation of the Cayuga Chapters, to Dr. John Gilmary 
Shea, author of Catholic Missions Arnomj the Indiau Tribes of 
tJie U. S., (and kindred volumes illustrating the early history 
of the country.) for his counsel and aid, which has been of 
service in various particulars. The introductory chapter, 
which narrates the first missionary visit to the Indians 
within the present limits of the state of New York, and 
chapter VIII which concludes the history of the Seneca Mis- 
sion, were furnished by him, while the translations that 



8 

compose the body of the work, were submitted to his careful 
revision. It also gives me pleasure to direct attention to the 
notes contributed by Gen. John S. Clark, of Auburn, over 
his own initials, as of special value. They are the result of 
much study and research, and so far as they relate to Indian 
village sites, of repeated personal inspection of the several 
localities, until entire satisfaction has been reached. It is 
hardly possible to appreciate the patient labor inspired b}' the 
true historic spirit, required to attain accuracy in this depart- 
ment of study. C. H. 
Auburn, N. Y., July, 1884. 



|t)$ttit Missiatis ^mauff tht) San^cas. 



The earliest attempt at mission work in Western New- 
York was that of the Franciscan Father Joseph de la Eoche 
Daillon, a zealous man who though of high rank, belongino- 
to the familj^ of the Dukes du Lud, devoted himself to the 
American missions with all their hardships and privations. 

Sagard preserves the following letter of this clergyman 
addressed to a friend at Angers in France, giving an account 
of his visit to the Neuter nation in 1626-7. It properly 
forms a preliminary chapter of the present series, since after 
the overthrow of the Neuters by the Iroquois in 1650, their 
territory was incorporated in the Seneca canton and one of 
the principle villages, Gandougare, was at the time of the 
missionary labors of the Jesuit Fathers among the Senecas, 
composed largely of captives from the conquered nation. In 
the wars between the Iroquois and the Hurons, which resulted 
in the destruction of the latter, in 16-19, the Neuters took 
part with neither; and it was their neutral position that gave 
them their name. 

NARRATIVE OF FATHER DE LA ROCHE DAILLON.' 

" Sir : — My humble salutation in the mercy of Jesus. It 
is still permitted though separated by distance to visit one's 

1 Translated by Dr. John Gilmary Shea as the introductory chapter of the present 
work. The notes, together with the sketch of Brule which follows the narrative, are 
also from his pen, except as otherwise indicated. 



10 

fi-iends by missives, which render absent j^ersons present. 
Our Indians are astonished at tJiis, seeing that we often write 
to our Fathers who are at a distance from us, and that by 
our letters they learn our thoughts and even what these very 
Indians had done at the place of our residence. 

After having made some stay in our convent in Canada, 
and communicated with our Fathers, and the Ileverend Jesuit 
Fathers, I was induced by religious impulse to visit the 
sedentary nations whom we call Huron, and with me the 
Eeverend Fathers Brebeuf and De None, Jesuits. Ilavdng 
arrived there, with all the hardships each one can conceive, 
by reason of the wretched roads, I received a letter (some 
time after) from our Eeverend Father Joseph le Garon, by 
which he encouraged me to push on further to a nation 
which we call Neutral, of which the interpreter Brule told 
wonders. Encouraged by so good a Father and the great 
account made to me of this people, I journeyed thither and 
set out from the Hurons with this design, October 18, 1626, 
with one named Grenolle, and La Vallee, Frenchmen by 
nation.' 

Passing by the nation of the Petun," I made the acquaint- 
ance and friendship of a chief who is in great repute there, 
who promised me to guide us to that Neuter nation, and 
furnish Indians to carry our packages, and the small stock of 
provisions that we had laid up, for it is self-deceit to think of 
living in these countries as mendicants, these people never 



1 "We have no knowledge of any one who proceeded thither with the design of 
preaching the gospel, except the Rev. Father Joseph de la Koche Daillon, Recollect, 
who in 1626 made a journey to tliat country and spent the winter there." Relation 
1641, p. 74. It is evident that the Neuters lay on both sides the Niagara, as late as 
1640, although at that time the VVenro, and perhaps other bands had been forced away 
by the Senecas, and only the smaller portion of the villages were on the Iroquois side 
of the Niagara. From the proximity of Ounoutisaston where Father de la Roche win- 
tered to the Wenros, who were on the Iroquois frontier, the presumption is very strong 
that that Neutral town was east of the Niagara, and in what is now New York. 

2 These are the Tionontates or Dinondadies, who were overthrown with the Hurons. 
Their descendants form principally the western band now known as Wyandots. 



11 

thinking to give unless you put tbem under obligation, and 
it is often necessary to make long stages and even pass 
many nights without finding any other shelter than that of 
the stars. He fnlfilled to our satisfaction what he had prom- 
ised us, and we slept only five nights in the woods, and on 
the sixth day we arrived at the first village, where we were 
very well received, thanks to our Lord, and then to four 
other villages which competing with each other brought us 
food, soine venison, others squashes, neintahouy^ and the 
best they had, and they were astonished to see me dressed in 
the style and that I desired nothing belonging to them, only 
that I invited them by signs to raise their eyes to Heaven, 
and make the sign of the Holy Cross, and what filled them 
with wonder was to see me retire at certain hours of the day 
to pray to Grod, and devote myself to interior exercises, for 
they had never seen religious, exce})t towards the Petuneux 
and the Hurons, their neighbors. 

At last we reached the sixth village," where I had been 
advised to remain ; I had a council held here, where you 
will remark, by the way, that they call all their assemblies 
councils, which they hold seated on the ground, as often as it 
pleases their chiefs, not in a hall, but in a cabin, or in the 
open field, with very strict silence as long as the chief speaks, 
and they are inviolable observers of what they have once 
concluded and determined. 

There I told them through the interpreter that I had come 
in the name of the French, to form alliance and friendship 
with them, and to invite them to come to the trade, that I 



1 Sigard in his Huron dictionary explains this to be parched corn. 

i He calls this subsequently Ounontisaston. In 1640 Father Brebeuf calls the village 
farthest from the Hurons, and only one day's journey from the Senecas, "the last town of 
the Neuter nation on the east side, called Onijuiaahra, the same name as the river." 
Relation 1041, p. 75. The town nearest the Hurons was Kandoucho. lb. Teotogiaton 
was midway, lb. p. 78. Brebeuf and Chaumonot visited 18 of the Neuter towns and 
apparently crossed the Niagara, p. 78, as Father de la Roche Daillon did. Unfortunately 
Champlain mentions no Neuter village in his text or map. 



12 

also begged them to permit me to remain in their country, in 
order to be able to instruct them in the law of our God, which 
is the only means of going to Heaven. They accepted all 
my ofiEers, and assured me they were very pleasing to them, 
consoled by which, I made them a present of the little I had, 
as little knives and other trifles, which they esteem at a high 
price, for in these countries yoa never treat of anything with 
the Indians without making them presents of something or 
other, and in return they begot me (as they say) that is, they 
declared me a citizen and a child of the country, and gave me 
in charge (a mark of great affection) to Souharissen, who was 
my father and my host, for according to age, they are accus- 
tomed to call us cousin, brother, son, uncle or nephew, &c. 
This one is the chief of the greatest credit and authority, 
who has ever been in all the nations, for he is chief not of 
his village only, but of all those of his nation, to the number 
of twenty-eight, including towns, cities, and villages, built 
like those of the Huron country, as well as of several little 
hamlets of seven or eight cabins, built in various places, 
convenient for fishing, hunting or cultivating the ground. 

This is without example among the other nations to have 
so absolute a Chief. He acquired this honor and power by 
his courage, and for having several times gone to war against 
the seventeen nations who are their enemies and brought 
back heads, or brought in prisoners from all. 

Those who are valiant in this style are highly esteemed 
among them. And though they have only the war club and 
the bow, yet they are very warlike, and dexterous in these 
arms. After all this friendly welcome, our Frenchmen hav- 
ing returned, I remained, the happiest man in the world, 
hoping to advance something there for God's glory or at 
least to discover the means, which would be no small thing, 
and to endeavor to learn the mouth of the river of the Iro- 
quois in order to conduct them to the trade. 



13 

I have also done my best to learn their customs and mode 
of life, and during my stay I visited them in their cabins, to 
know and instruct them, and I found them sufficiently 
tractable, and I often made the little children, who are very 
bright, stark naked and disheveled, make the sign of the 
Holy Cross, and I remarked that in all these countries I never 
saw any humpbacked, one-eyed, or misshapen. 

I have always seen them firm in their wish to go with at 
least four canoes to the trade, if I would guide them ; the whole 
difficulty was that we did not know the way. Yroquet, an 
Indian known in these countries, who had come there with 
twenty of his people to hunt beavei", and who took at least 
five hundred, was never willing to give us any mark to know 
the mouth of the river. He and several Hurons assured us 
firmly that it was only ten days' sail to the place of trade, but 
we were afraid of taking one river for another, and losing 
our way or dying of starvation in the land. 

For three months I had every reason in the world to be 
satisfied with my people. But the Hurons having discovered 
that I talked of taking them to the trade, spread through all 
the village where they passed, very evil rumors about me, 
that I was a great magician ; that I had diseased the air in 
their country and poisoned several : that if the_y did not soon 
make way with me that I would set fire to their villages, and 
make all their children die ; in fine, that I was, as they rep- 
resented, an Ataianite — this is their word to signif}^ one who 
makes sorceries, which they hold in the greatest horror ; and, 
by the way, know that there are many sorcerers who under- 
take to cure the sick by mummeries and other fancies.' 

In fine, these Hurons have always told them so much evil 
of the French that \hey could imagine, in order to divert 
them from trading with us, that the French were inapproach- 



1 When the Jesuits Brebeuf and Chanmonot attenii)ted a mission among the Neuters 
in 1640, the same accusations were made against them by Hurons. Relation 1641, p. 75. 



14 

able, harsh, sad and melancholy men, who live on nothing- 
but snakes and poison; that we eat the thunder' (which 
they imagine to be an unparalleled monster, relating strange 
stories about it); that we all had tails like animals, and 
that our women had only one breast, which was in the mid- 
dle of the bosom ; that they bore five or six children at a 
birth, and they added a thousand other absurdi:ties to make 
us hated by them. 

And in fact these good people wiio are very easily per- 
suaded, conceived such a mistrust of me, as soon as any one 
fell sick, they came to ask ms whether it was not true that I 
had poisoned him, that they would surely kill me if T did 
not cure him. I had much difficulty in excusing and defend- 
ing myself. At last ten men of the last village called Oua- 
roronon,- one day's march from the Hiroquois, their kindred 
and friends, coming to trade in our village, came to see me 
and invited me to visit them in return at their village. I 
promised to do so without fail, when the snow had melted, and 
to give them all some trifles, with which they showed them, 
selves satisfied. Thereupon they left the cabin where I 
lodged, all the time hiding their evil designs against me, and 
seeing that it was growing late, they came back to see me, 
and brusquely began to quarrel with me, without provoca- 
tion. One knocked me down with a blov^^ of his fist, and the 
other took an axe, and as he was about to lay my Iiead open, 
God diverted his hand and turned the blow on a post that was 
there near me. I received several other ill treatments, but that 
is what we come to seek in these countries. Quieting a little, 



1 This had reference to the use of gunpowder. 

2 " The AVeurohronons formed hitherto one of the nations associated to the Neuter 
nation and were situated on their borders, on the side of the Hiroquois, tlie common 
enemy of all these nations." ReUition 1639, p. 59. After stating their abandonment by 
the Neuters and their emigration to tlie Huron country it speaks of their march of 
more than 80 leagues, on which there were more than 600 persons, the women and little 
children constituting the greater part."— lb. p. 6 J. 



15 

they vented their anger on tlie little property we had left. 
They took onr writing desk, blanket, breviary and oui- bag in 
which there were some poeket-knives, needles, awls, and 
other little things of like quality, and having thus stripped 
ine, they went off all that night overjoved at their exploit, 
and on arriving at their village, on making an examination 
of their booty, touched perhaps by a repentance come from the 
Most High, the3^ sent me back our breviary, compass, writing 
desk, blanket and sack, but it was quite empty. 

On their arrival in my village, called Ounontisaston, tliere 
were only women there, the men having gone to hunt stags. 
On their return they manifested to me that they were sorry 
for the disaster that had befallen me, then no more was 
said aboat it. 

The rumor spread forthwith to tlie Hurons, that I had 
been killed, whereupon the good Fathers Brebeuf and de 
Noue, who had remained there, sent Grrenolle promptly to me 
to learn the truth, with orders that if I were alive to bring me 
back, to which I was invited albo by the letter which they 
had written me with the pen of their good will, and I did not 
wish to gainsay them, since such was their advice and that 
of all the French, who feared more disasters than profit by 
my death, and thus returned I to the country of our Hurons, 
where I am at present all admiring the divine effects of 
Heaven. 

The country of this Neuter nation is incomparably greater, 
finer and better than any other of all these countries.' There 



1 " There is also two days" journey from tliese (the Petuns) another nation of Indians 
who raise a great quantity of tobacco, on the side towards tlie south, who are called tha 
Neuter nations who number 4,000 warriors, who dwell west of the lake of the Entouh- 
onorons, 80 to 100 leagues in extent." Laverdiere's Champlain, 1619, p. 60. "These 
Keuters enjoy, according to ihe report of some, eighty leagues of country, where they 
raise very good tobacco, which they trade with their neighbors. They assist the Che- 
veux Relevez (Ottawas) against the Nation of Fire, of whom they are mortal enemies; 
hut between the Hiroquois and our Hurons * * * they had peace and remained neutral 
between the t»vo nations." Sagard, p. 8'J3, " From the first town of the Neuter nation 



16 

i? an incredible number of stags there, which thej do not take 
one by one, as is done on this side, but making three hedges 
in a spacious place, they run them all ahead, until they col- 
lect them in this place, where they take them ; and they have 
this maxim for all kinds of animals, whether they need them 
or not, to kill all they find, for fear, as they say, that if they 
do not take them the beasts would go and inform the others 
how they had been pursued, and that afterwards, in their 
necessity, they would no longer find any. A great abund- 
ance of moose or elk, beaver, raccoons, and black squirrels, 
larger than those of France, are found there, a great quantity 
of wild geese, turkeys, cranes, and other animals, which 
remain there all winter, which is not long nor rigorous as in 
Canada, and no snow had fallen there on the 22d of Novem- 
ber, which was not at most more than two feet deep, 
and began to melt on the 26th of January. On the 8th of 
March' there was no longer any at all in the open places, 
though there was a little, indeed, in the woods. Eesidence 
there is pleasant and convenient enough, the rivers furnish 
quantities of very good fish, the soil gives good corn more 
than for their want. There are squashes, beans and other 
vegetables in plenty, and very good oil which they call a 
Touronton,' so that I do not doubt but that we should settle 



found on proceeding from here (the Hurons) keeping on south or southwest it is about 
four days' journey to the mouth of the so famous river of that nation in Ontario or 
Lake St. Louis. This side of tliat river and not beyond it, as a certain map states, are 
the most of the towns of the Neuter nation. There are three or four beyond ranged 
from east to west towards the Nation of the Cat or Eriechronons. This river is that by 
which our great lake of the Hurons or Mer Uouce, which flows first into that of Erie or 
the Nation of the Cat, and there it enters into the lauds of the Neuter nation and takes the 
name of Onguiaahra, till it empties into Ontario."— Relation 1641, p. 71. The map re- 
ferred to is evidently Champ'ain's, of 1632, where he makes the Niagara run from west 
to east and places the Neuters entirely west of Lake Ontario and south of the Niagara. 
The oil springs in their country were evident^' east not west of that river. 

1 This fixes apparently the period of his stay in the country of the Neuters from 
November 22, 1626, to about March 8, 1027. 

2 "The copyist of the Father's letter mistook in my opinion, the Huron word Otor- 
onton, which he makes to mean oi// for it is, properly speaking, ?rtMcA, or Oh /how 
mnch there i«.'— Sagard, p. 893. 



17 

there rather than elsewhere, and, doubtless on a longer stay 
there would be hope of advancing Grod's glory, which is 
more to be sought than aught else, and tlieir conversion is 
more to be hoped for the faith than that of the Hurons, and 
I am astonished how the Company of Merchants, since the 
time they have come to these countries, have not made some 
Frenchmen winter in said country ; I say assuredly that it 
would be very easy to lead them to the trade, which would 
be a great advantage to go and come by so short and easy a 
route/ as I have already told yon, for to go trading to the 
Hurons amid all the difficult rapids, and always in danger 
of drowning, is scarcely attractive, and then to march for six 
days from the Hurons to this country, crossing the land by 
fearful and awful routes as I have seen — these are insup- 
portable hardships and he alone knows it, who has found 
himself amid them. 

I say then that the gentlemen associates should, in my 
opinion, send some Frenchmen to winter in the country of 
the Neuters, wdio are less remote than that of the Hurons, 
for they can proceed by the lake of the Hiroquois to the 
place where the trade is held'^ in ten daj^s at most ; this lake 
is their's also, the one on the one shore, and the others on 



1 " I conjecture also easily the proximity of the Neuters to Quebec, in tliat the Hir- 
oquois are nearer to tlie French than the Hurons are, and the Neuters are only a day's 
journey from the Hiroquois, who all lie southward."— S;',gard. 

i The place of trade, already several times mentioned, was on Lake St. Peter, about 
fifty miles below Montreal. Sagard in 16.36 says : * * * * "After having been re- 
freshed for several days with our brethren, and enjoyed their sweet conversation, in 
our little Convent, we ascended in our barques by the River St. Lawrence for t/ie trade 
of the Cape of Victory, which is from Quebec about fifty leagues. * * * * \ye reached 
Lake St. Peter, which is six or seven leagues long, and three or four wide in places, and 
four fathoms deep where the water is still. * * * * A little above the outlet of the 
lake we enter the harbor of Cape Victory and cast anchor about sis or seven o'clock in 
the evening of the day of St. Magdalen, where already were encamped along the bank, 
a great number of savages of various nations for the trade of beaver's with the French. 
* * * * From the harbor one sees in front six or seven islands covered with beautiful 
trees of uniform height, which conceal from view the lake and the river of the Iro- 
quois, which discharges itself into the great river opposite the harbor." (Sagard's 
History of Canada, 1, 172 )— J. S. C. 



18 

the other, bat I see one obstacle, which is they hardly know 
how to manage canoes, especially at rapids, although there 
are otdy two, but they are long and dangerous. Their real 
trade is hunting and war, outside of that they are great 
sluggards, whom you see like beggars in France, when they 
are full, lying on their belly in the sun. Their life, like that 
of the Hurons, very dissolute, and their manners and cus- 
toms entirely the same. The language is different, however, 
but they understand each other as the Algoumequins and 
Montagnais do.' As for clothes, do not look for any among 
them, for they do not wear even breech cloths, which is 
very strange, and is scarcely found in the most savage tribes. 
And to tell you the truth, it would not be expedient to let 
all kinds of people come here, for the wicked life of some 
Frenchmen is a pernicious example to them, and in all these 
countries, the people though barbarous, reproach us, saying 
that we teach them things contrary to what our Frenchmen 
practice. Think, sir, what weight our MK)rds can have after 
that ; yet better is to be hoped for, since what consoled me 
on my return was to see that our countrymen had made 
their peace with our Lord, had confessed and received com- 
munion at Easter, and had sent away their women, and have 
since been more guarded. 

I must tell you that they treated our Fathers so harshly, 
that even two men of whom the Jesuit Fatlicrs had deprived 
themselves for their accommodation, have been driven out by 
force, and they were unwilling to give them any provisions 
to nourish and support some Indian boys who desired to live 
with us, although they promised to have them remunerated 
by some of our benefactors. It is cruel to be treated in this 



1 " Our Hurons call the Neuter nation Attiwandaronk, as much as to say, " People of 
a language a little different," for as to nations which speak a language that thej' do not 
understand at all, thej' call them Akwanake, of whatever nation they may be, as if to 
say "Strangers." The people of Neuter Nation in turn for the same reason call our 
Hurons "Attiwandaronk." Kelatiou 1641, p. 7i. 



19 

sort, by our very countrymen, but since we are Friars Minor, 
our condition is to suffer and to pray to God to give us 
patience. 

It is said that two new Fathers came to us from France, 
named Father Daniel Boursier and Father Francis de Bin- 
ville, who had been promised us already last year ; if this be 
so, I beg you as a crowning of all your trouble, that you take 
for me, to let me have without fail a habit that they can send 
me, it is all that I ask, for no cloth is made here, and ours 
being all worn out, I cannot do without one. The ]X)or 
religious of St. Francis having food and clothing, this is their 
whole lot on earth ; Heaven we hope under favor of our 
good God in whose service we must voluntarily devote our 
life for the salvation of these benighted people, in order that 
it please him, if he accept our care, to make Christianity 
flourish in these countries, God permits martyrdom to those 
who merit it, I am sorry not to be in that state, and yet I 
am not unaw^are that to be recognized a true servant of God, 
one must expose himself for his brethren. Come then bravely 
pain and toil, all difficulties and death itself will be agreeable 
to me, God's grace being with me, which I implore by means 
of the prayers of all our good friends over there, wdiose, sir, 
and your most humble servant, 

I am in our Lord. 

Dated at Toanchain, a Huron village, this ISth day of July, 1627. 

Stephen Brule, whose eulogy of the country of the Neuters 
led Father de la Eoche Daillon, to visit them, had, we must 
infer, already been in that part of the country, and been struck 
by its advantages. He came over at a very early age and was 
employed by Champlain from about 1610 and perhaps earlier- 
He was one of the first explorers, proceeding to the Huron 
country and acquiring their language so as lo serve as inter- 
preter. (Laverdiere's Champlain, vi pp. 2 41— 266). As early as 



20 

Septembers, 1616, when Cliamplain was preparing to join the 
Harons in their expedition against the Entouohonorons, in 
Central New Yorlv, Stephen Brule set out wnth a party of 
twelve Ilurons from Upper Canada for the towns of the 
Carantouannais, allies of the Ilurons, living on the Susque- 
hanna, and evidently forming part of the confederacy known 
later as the Andastes, (lb. (1615.) p. 85) to secure their 
co-operation against the enemy. 

He crossed from Lake Ontario apparently to the Susque- 
hanna, defeated a small Iroquois party and entered the Car- 
antouannais town in triumph.' The force marched too slowly 
to join Champlain, and Brule returned to their country where 
he wintered. He descended their river (the Susquehanna,) 
visiting the neighboring tribes, meeting several who com- 
plained of the harshness of the Dutch. At last he started to 
rejoin his countrymen, but his party was attacked and scat- 
tered by the Iroquois, and Brule losing his way entered an 
Iroquois village. He tried to convince them that he was 
not of the same nation of whites who had just been attacking 
them, but they fell upon him, tore out his nails and beard 
and began to burn him in different parts of the body. He 
was far from being an exemplary character, but wore an 
Agnus Dei, and when the Indians went to tear this from his 
neck he threatened them with the vengeance of Heaven. 
Just then a terrible thunder storm came up, his tormentors 
fled and the chief released him. After he had spent some 
time with them they escorted him four days' journey and he 
made his way to the Atinouaentans, the Huron tribe occu- 
pjang the peninsula between Nattawassaga and Matchedash 
bays on Lake Huron (Laverdiere's Champlain 1619, pp. 134- 
140, 1615, p. 26; Sagard, Histoire du Canada, p. 466.) 



1 Carantouan was in the environs of present Waverly, in Tioga County, N. Y., oa 
the line between Pennsylvania and New York, on the east side of Chemung River. It 
was enclosed by a palisaded work, the remains of which are still plain to be seen, con- 
taining about ten acres. Brule reported that in 1615 it contained 800 warriors.— J. S. C. 



21 

He found Champlain in 1618, and made his report to 
him. It was apparently on this return march that he passed 
through the territory of the Neuters, as it would be his safest 
course. We find him in Quebec in 1623, when he was sent 
to meet and bring down the Hurons coming to trade. He 
returned with them, leading a very dissolute life among the 
Indians (as Sagard complained). — Laverdiere's Champlain, 
1624, p. 81. When Kirk took Quebec he went over to the 
English, and was sent up to the Hurons in their interest in 
1629, notwithstanding the bitter reproaches of Champlain. 
(lb. 1632, p. 267.) Sagard, writing in 1636, states that pro- 
voked at his conduct the Hurons put him to death and 
devoured him. — Sagard, Histoire du Canada, p. 466, Lejeune 
Relation 1633, p. 34. The latter fact is not mentioned by 
the Jesuits. From the remark of Father Brebeuf (Relation 
1635, p. 28.) it would seem that he met his death at the very 
town, Toanchain, whence Father de la Roche wrote. It was 
about a mile from Thunder Bay. — Laverdiere's Champlain 
1619, p. 27. 

Such was the fate of the man who was the first to cross 
from Lake Ontario to the Susquehanna, and pass from the 
village of the Iroquois through the Neutral territory to the 
shores of Lake Huron. 



IL 



The founder of the first mission among tlie Senecas in 
1656 was Father Joseph Chaumonot, an old Huron mission- 
ary, not less distinguished for his eloquence than for his 
pious devotion. He came to Onondaga, the capital of the 
Iroquois Confederacy, the year previous, together with Father 
Claude Dablon, and remained there during the winter of 
1655-6, preparing the way for the establishment of missions 
in the several Iroquois cantons.' 

The following narrative of his work in founding the Sen- 
eca missions, is translated from Chapter xvii. of Belaiion for 
1657,' viz: 

CONCERNING THE PUBLICATION OF THE FAITH AMONG THE 
SONNONTOUANS. 

The country of the Sonnontouans (Senecas), which is much 
the most fertile and populous of the cantons of the Iroquois, 
contains two very large towns and a number of lesser vil- 
lages, besides a town of the Hurons named St. Michael, who 
took refuge there in order to escape the common calamity of 
their nation.^ These Hurons, who have preserved their 



1 For the preliminary history common to the Iroquois missions, see Early Chapters of 
Cayuga History, pp. 9-80. 

2 Relations des Jesuites contenant ce qui s^est passe de plus remarquable dans les missiont 
des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus dans la Nouvelle France. Quebec, 185S. The subse- 
quent references to the Relations are to this edition unless otherwise indicated. 

3 The Hurons, as a nation, were destroyed by the Iroquois in 1649. This village was 
composed of the survivors of the missions of St. Michael and St. John in the Huron 
country. In 16j0 the Senecas had two very large villa^jes. Sonnontouan and Gandagan ; 
another important one made up of captive Onnontiogas, Neuters and Hurons called in 
i669 Gaudougarae and several smaller villages in all not less than six. 



23 

customs and particular habits, live separate from the Iro- 
quois, and content themselves with being one with them in 
good feeling and friendship. Not having a sufficient number 
of laborers to cultivate the whole of this extensive field, we 
confine ourselves to preaching the good tidings to them, hav- 
ing exchanged with them presents of ceremony and alliance. 
For as soon as Father Chaumonot, on our arrival in the 
(Iroquois) country, had adopted the Cayugas as children of 
Onontio' he went to Seneca to adopt that people as brothers 
indeed, after the manner of the Faith to which we would dis- 
pose them. 

Having assembled the sachems of Gandagan,- the princi- 
pal town of the Senecas, and made the customary presents 
of alliance, he commenced in an earnest and elevated tone of 
voice to explain the principal truths of the gospel, which he 
sealed with three very beautiful presents that he had reserved 
for the purpose ; and to press the matter still farther, " My- 
self " he said, " I give with these as guarantee of the truths 
which I preach ; and if my life, which I consecrate to you, 
should seem to you of little account, I offer to 3'ou the lives 
of all the French who have followed me to Gannentaa^ as 
a testimony of the Faith which I proclaim to you. Do you 
not put confidence in these living presents — these noble 
braves ? Can you be so simple as to think that such a 
courageous band would leave their native country, the most 
agreeable and beautiful in the world, suffer so great hard- 
ships and come so far, to bring you a lie ? " 



1 For an account of this interesting ceremony together with the speech of Saonchio. 
gwa, the distinguished Cayuga orator, on the occasion, see Early Chapters of Cayuga 
niUory, pp. 15, 16. Onontio was the name by which the French Governor was known 
to the Iroquois. 

2 See note on Seneca towns, p. 25. 

3 The site of the Onondaga Mission of St. Mary. It was also the seat of a French 
colony of some forty persons who had accompanied tlie missionaries from Quebec, 
under command of M. Du Puys, and was situated on the north side of the Onondaga 
lake, about midway between its two extremities. 



24 

The result proved that these barbarians were moved by the 
discourse of the Father. For after due deliberation over the 
matter, they answered that they believed what we had the 
goodness to present to them, and embraced the Faith, and 
entreated witli great earnestness that the Father would live 
with them, the better to instruct them in our mysteries. 
There was one more deeply touched than the rest, who would 
not consent that the Father should depart until he, himself, 
was instructed and baptized, and he had also obtained for his 
wife the same happiness. God has blessed the labors of this 
Father with similar success in the other towns.' 

Annonkentitaoui, who is the chief of this people, resolved 
to surpass all others in zeal, and to be himself one of the 
first to become a Christian. A cancer which had eaten into 
his thigh, having confined him to the bed, the Father 
although indispc)sed, saw him and converted him to the 
Faith of which he will be a great support in his country, 
since God seems with this end in view, to have healed him of 
a disease which all thought to be incurable. 

Among the many Hurons who have kept their faith during 
their captivity, the Father met with a woman who had pre- 
served the zeal of a good Christian, and from whom he 
learned that the Hurons of the Isle of Orleans, continued in 
the practice of our religion with all their former devotion ; 
and that one of them named Jacques Otsiaouens, had aston- 
ished by his fortitude the Iroquois who burned him, not 
omitting to repeat at length the usual prayers and invoking 
without ceasing the name of Jesus during the whole of his 
torture." 



1 See note on Seneca towns, p. 25. 

2 At the dispersion of the Huron nation and. with it the missions, a number sought 
refuge under French protection at Quebec, and after a while were removed to the Isle 
of Orleans in the vicinity, where a church and a fort were built ; and the cultivation of 
the soil gave the refugees an ample support. Guided by Fathers Leonard Garreau and 
Chaumonot, two of their surviving pastors in their own country, they are said to have 
become models of piety and devotion. 



25 

The Hurons of St. Micbael' did not manifest any less signs 
of piety, being filled witli joy at seeing again one of their 
dear pastors, each asking forthwitli absolution for himself or 
baptism for his children. Even the old men who despised 

1 Seneca Towns.— When the Senecas were first known to the whites, and from that 
time np to the French expedition of Denonville in 16S~, they had four principal towns. 
In 1G69 according to Galinee, they were living in five villages, two of which contained 
a hundred cabins each, the others from twenty to thirty. At this time certainly two, and 
probably three of the largest were enclosed by palisades. In 1677 when visited by 
Grecnhalgh, an Albany trader, they were occupying four villages, none of which were 
palisaded. Frequent changes of location with the large towns was a necessity. Abbe 
Belmont who accompanied Denonville in 1SS7 says " they change their locations every 
ten years in order to bring themselves near the woods." This was probably true of 
the larger villages, but the smaller ones might continue for twenty years or more. 
During the time of the Jesuit Missions among the Senecas and up to 16H7 the four 
principal villages occupied the relative positions indicated in the following diagram. 

North. 
SoNNONTouAN. O - - 10 miles. - - O Gandagaro. 

La Conception. St. Jiiin^-s. 

Totjacton. tiaudaga]). 

Gandachioragou. o O Gandougahae. 

Uaiuiouriata, fct. MicLaei, 

Keinthe. Soitth. Ouontague. 

Of Gandagaro it is liaown certainly that in 1677 and JCSV it was on the great hill 
known HS Boughton Jlill, a mile south of the village of Victor in Ontario county. 
Greenhalgh says it contained one hundred and fifty houses, located on the top of a great 
hill and was not " stockadoed." In 16(19 Galinee describes it as in a large plain about 
two leagues in circumference, ou the edge of a small hill and surrounded with palisades. 
No indications of a palisaded work of this character have been found, on, or in the 
vicinity of Boughton Hill. Denonville found some kind of a work, on the hill north of 
Victor, and some evidences of a minor Indian village have been found there, but the 
preponderance of evidence, goes to show that Gandagan was south of the great hill on 
the farm of Mr. Chapin. In this vicinity, in dillerent locations have been found pipes, 
beads, iron hatchets, brass kettles, numerous skeletons, and all the usual accompani- 
ments of important Indian villages. This Gangadun alias Gandagaro was the " St. 
James " of the missionaries, the Capital and residence of the chief sachem who presided 
over the grand councils of the tribe. 

Gandougarae, the " St. Alichael " of the missionaries, peopled principally by cap- 
tives from the Huron and other conquered tribes, was located at different dates from one 
and a half to four miles south of the capital town. A site ou the east side of Mud creek 
on the line bstween the towns of Canandaigua and East Bloomfleld about five miles 
soutli-east of Victor, appears to have been one site of this village. Other sites were 
probably on, or in the vicinity of the Chapin farm, directly south of Boughton Hill. 

The two eastern villages after their destruction in 1687 gradually drifted eastward, 
and were found a hundred years later by Sullivan near present Geneva. In 1720 they 
were two miles east of the foot of Canandaigua lake ; in 1750 on the White Springs farm 
two miles south-west, and on Burrell's creek, four miles south-west of Geneva ; in 1756 
at the Old Castle two miles north-west of Geneva. 

SoNNONTOUAN alias Totiactou, Tegarnhies, the "Conception" of the missionaries 
was located a mile and a half N. N. W. of Honeoye Falls in the town of Mendon, 



26 

the light of the Gospel while their land flourished, sought it 
with great eagerness, asking immediate baptism. How true 
it is, that affliction giveth understanding, and adversity 
openeth the eyes of them whom prosperity had blinded. 
But pleasant as were these fruits of the Gospel, the Father 
was nevertheless obliged to deprive himself of them, pressing 
work calling him elsewhere. ^ 

On his way (back to Onondaga) he had an excellent oppor- 
tunity to ridicule a superstition of the infidels, his guide 



Monroe county. It is indicated on Galinee's map as " Father Fremin'a village." It 
was about ten miles directly west of Gandagaro on Boughton Hill, in a bend of Hon- 
eoye creek, which at this point sweeps around abruptly to the west, forming a right 
angle on the east and north sides of the town. A second location and probably the one 
occupied in 1687 when destroyed by fire, was on the Ball farm, a mile west of Honeoye 
Falls village. Here, on a space of about twenty acres, a great abundance of relics have 
been found, of copper, glass and iron ; brass crosses, medals and rings, and hundreds 
of iron hatchets bearing evidence of having passed through fire. This great village 
was the western door of the Long House and the residence of Tegaronhies hence some- 
times called Tegaronhies town. 

Gandachioragou, the western small town, was probably on the site of the present 
village of Lima, four miles south of the great town when located near Honec ye Falls. 
The relics found here are abundant, and indicate an important but not a large town. 

These western villages after 1G87, drifted south and then west, occupying several dif- 
ferent locations, and probably reached the Genesee river about 1740. Sullivan found 
tliera in 1779 in two villages, one east and one west of the river, and a third small one, 
near the head of Conesus lake.— J. S. C. 

1 Father Peter Mart Joseph Chaumonot, or as he is sometimes called Chaumon- 
NOT, was born in 1611, near Chatillon Sur Seine, where his father was a wine dresser. 
While studying Vvith his uncle, a priest, he was induced by a wicked associate to rob 
his guardian and go to Banme to finish his studies. Soon disabused, he feared to return, 
and proceeded ou a pilgrimage to Rome. After a variety of adventures, which he has 
inimitably described, he entered the Society of Jesus, on the 18th of May, 163-2, as the 
son of an advocate. He soon revealed his deceit, and sincerely converted, devoted him- 
self to the studj' of perfection. While in his theology. Father Poncet, then also a student 
of Rome, gave him one of Brebeuf's Huron Relations, and he solicited the Canada 
Mission. His desire was granted ; and, after being ordained, he was sent to America. 
He landed at Quebec on the 1st of August, 1639, with Father Poncet, and with him pro- 
ceeded immediately to the Huron Territory. Here he remained till 1650, visiting the 
villages of the Hurons, Petuns and Neutrals. He descended to Quebec with the party 
who settled on Isle Orleans, and was constantly with them till his death, on the 21st of 
February, 1693, except from 1655 to 1658, when he was at Onondaga, and a short stay at 
Montreal. History of the Catholic Misisons among the Indian Tribes of the United States, 
1529-1851, bij John Gilmanj Shea, New York, 1857, note p. 198. The several sketches of 
the Jesuit Fathers, which appear in the subsequent pages, are largely derived from this 
work, with additional facts furnished by Dr. Shea. 



27 

having presented a bit of wood to cast upon two round 
stones which they encountered on the journey, surrounded 
with the symbols of a superstition of this people who in 
passing throw a small stick upon these stones in token of 
their homage, adding the words Koue I askennon eshatongot, 
that is to say : Hold ! this is to pay my passage in order that 
I may proceed with safety. ' 

I cannot omit the death of David Le Moyne which should 
seem precious in the eyes of good men, as we believe it to 
have been in the sight of God. He was a young man from 
Dieppe, '■* aged about thirty years, whose zeal led him to fol- 
low the Father in this mission, being disposed by a general 
confession. A hemorrhage which weakened his body for 
some time, did not interrupt for a moment his enthusiasm ; 
and he died on the banks of Lake Tioliero (Cayuga) with the 
gentleness and resignation of the elect, blessing God for this, 
that he was permitted to die in the land of the Iroquois, and 
in the work of spreading the faith. Is not such a death an 
ample recompense for a life devoted to the salvation of souls, 
and a fitting illustration of the protection of the Blessed Yir- 



1 On his return to Onondaga, Chaumonot was immediately sent with Father Menard 
the founder of the Cayuga mission, to the Oneidas to open friendly relations with that 
most obstinate of the Iroquois tribes. While on their way, and the first night they spent 
in the woods, a chief in the company thus addressed the Fathers : "Ah, my brothers, 
yoQ are weary. What trouble you have to walk on the snow, on ice and in the water ! 
But courage 1 Let us not complain of the toil since we undertake it for so noble a 
cause. Ye demons who inhabit the woods, beware of injuring any of those who com- 
pose this embassy. And you trees laden with years, whom old age must soon level to 
the eartb suspend your fall ; envelop not in your ruin those who go to prevent the ruin 
of provinces and nations.'' Relation 1657. Chap, xviii. p. 46. This is similar, both 
in sentiment and imagery, to the opening sentences of the preliminary ceremony of the 
Iroquois "Condoling Council," which was convened to mourn a deceased councilor of 
the League, and install his successor. See The Iroquois Book of Bites, edited by Hora- 
tio Hale, M. A., Philadelphia, 1883 ; pp. 117-119. 

•2 A seaport town of France, at the mouth of the river Arques, and takes its name 
from "diep" an inlet, a place of considerable importance as early as the 12th century. 
During the Franco-German war it was occupied by the Germans from December 1870 
to July 1871. 



28 

gin toward whom this young man manifested a devotion that 
was most remarkable ? 

The central mission at Onondaga was broken up the fol- 
lowing year (1657), on the discovery of a conspiracy involv- 
ing the massacre of the French colony located at Ganentaa 
and the death of the missionaries. The circumstances 
attending the timely disclosure of the treacherous plot and 
the manner of their escape, were fully narrated in the history 
of the Cayuga Mission. ' Suffice it to say here, that a war 
followed between the French and the Iroquois which raged 
for two years, when negotiations for peace were concluded at 
Montreal, accompanied by the request from the Iroquois 
embassy that the sevei'al missions might be re-established. 
For this purpose, and not without misgivings on the part of 
the French for his personal safety, Father Simon Le Moyne, 
when on a visit to Onondaga in 1658, opened the way for the 
first missions, returned with the embassy, and arrived at the 
Iroquois capital the 12th of August, 1660. He made a brief 
visit to the Mohawks who had taken no part in the overtures 
for peace, and maintained an implacable hostility to the 
French, but without success, and barely escaped with his life 
from the scene of his earlier labors. He spent the autumn 
and winter in missionary work, largely among the Onondagas. 
A notice of it occurs in the Relation of 1662, as follows : 

" Behold here a mission of blood and fire, of labors and of 
tears, of captives and of barbarians. It is a country where 
the earth is still red with the blood of the French, where the 
stakes yet stand covered with their ashes ; where those who 
have survived their cruelty, bear its fatal marks on their feet 
and hands, their toes cut off and their finger nails torn out, 
and where in fine Father Simon Le Moyne has been for a 
year to soothe the sighs of this afflicted church, and to take 

1 Early Chapters of Cayuga History, pp. 29, 30. 



29 

part like a good pastor in all the misfortunes of his dear 
flock. 

" He was chiefly occupied during the winter with three 
churches, one French, one Huron and one Iroquois. He 
preserved the piety among the French captives, and be- 
came himself the sole depository of all their afflictions ; he 
re-established the Huron church, formerly so flourishing in 
their own country ; he laid the foundation of the Iroquois 
church, going from place to place to baptize the children and 
the dying, and to instruct those who, in the midst of barba- 
rism, were not far from the kingdom of God. 

" A little chapel formed of branches and bark was the 
sanctuary where God received every day the adoration of 
those who composed these three churches. Here the French 
assembled each morning, half an hour before daylight, to assist 
at the august sacrifice of the mass ; and every evening to 
recite in common the rosary : and often too, during the day 
to seek consolation from God in their misfortunes, joining 
their mangled hands and lifting them to Heaven, they prayed 
for those who had thus mutilated them." i 

Owing to the continued hostilities of the Mohawks, it 
was not until 1668, that the missions were renewed, when 
all the cantons once more welcomed the missionary Fathers. 

1 For an account of Le Moyne's visit to Cayuga, see Early Chapters of Cayvga His- 
tory, p. 25. 



TIT. 



The mission among the Senecas was resumed in 1668, by 
Father James Fremin, who was in Onondaga in 1657, at the 
breaking up of the Iroquois missions, as referred to in the 
previous number. His narrative occupies Chapter IX of the 
Relation 1670, and is as follows : 

THE MISSION OF ST. MICHAEL, OF TSONNONTOUAN. 

Our Iroquois missions made in the year 1669 very grati- 
fying progress. We then began to preach the Gospel at 
Tsonnontouiin, (Seneca), where there is a greater number of 
people than in the other four cantons of the lower Iroquois. 
When I arrived here at the close of the year 1668, I was 
well received ; but a fatal form of sickness breaking out at 
the time, desolated the entire region, so that I was wholly 
occupied in visiting the cabins to instruct and baptize the 
sick, who were in extremity. It pleased God to bless my 
humble labors, so that in a short time, I baptized more than 
one hundred and twenty persons, nearly all adults, of whom 
more than ninety died soon after baptism. But as I was 
alone and could not leave the field, more than one hundred and 
fifty died (without baptism) in districts far removed from here, 
while engaged in fishing or hunting. A necessity so press- 
ing impelled me to ask for assistance and beg Father Gar- 
nier, who was at Onondaga, to come to my aid at the earliest 
moment. But by the time of his arrival the contagion had 
ceased. Thus being relieved from exclusive occupation with 
the sick we began to proclaim the Gospel to the people who 



31 

had never heard the name of Jesus Christ ; and in order to do 
this with the greater success in different directions, Father 
Garnier took charge of the town named Grandachiragou/ 
where in a short time he built a very commodious chapel to 
which they flock from all sides for instruction. 

As for m3^self, on the 27th of Sept. 1669, I entered the 
town called Gandougarae,' and was received with every 
demonstration of public jo}^ They had for some time await- 
ed with impatience my coming. The town is composed of 
the remnants of three different nations which having been 
subdued by the Iroquois, were forced to submit at the dis- 
cretion of their conquerors and to establish themselves in 
their territory. The first nation is called Onnontioga ; the 
second the Neuter and the third the Huron.^ The first two 
have seldom if ever seen Europeans, neither have they heard 
mention of the true God. As for the third, they are a col- 
lection from many Huron villages, all of wh.om have been 
instructed in tlie Faith, and many of whom had already been 

1 See Seneca Towns, p. Co. 

2Ib)d. 

3 This was after the subjugation of the Hurons, Neuters and Eries and previous to 
that of Gandastogues ; whence the inference that the Onnontiogas were a tribe of the 
Eries whose towns seem never to have been visited bj' the French. "The territory of 
the Iroquois," saj's Mr. Hale (Iroquoiii Book of Bites pp. 33, 33.) "constantly extending, 
as their united strength made itself felt, became the ' GreatAsylum' of the Indian tribes. 
Of the conquered Eries and Hurons many hundreds were received and adopted by their 
conquerors. The Tuscaroras, expelled by the English from North Carolina, took refuge 
with the Iroquois and became the sixth nation of the League. From still further south 
the Tuteloes and Sapouies of Dakota stock, after many wars with the Iroquois, fled to 
them from their other enemies and found a cordial we)c )me. A chief still sits in the 
council as a representative of the Tuteloes, though the tribe itself has been swept away 
by disease or absorbed in the larger nations. Many fragments of tribes of Algonkia 
lineage— Delavvares, Mohegans, Mississagas— sought the same hospitable protection, 
which never failed them." Again (Ibid pp. 95, 96.): "Those whosnpposethat the Hurons 
only survive in a few Wyandots, and that the Eries, Attiwandaronks and Andastes have 
utterly perished are greatly mistaken. It is absolutely certain that of the twelve thous- 
and Indians who, now in the United States and Canada, preserve the Iroquois name > 
the greater portion derive their descent, in whole or in part, from those conquered na- 
tions. No other Indian community, so far as we know, has pursued this policy of in- 
corporation to anything near the same extent or carried it out with anything like the 
same humanity." 



82 

baptizeil by our Fathers before tliat flourishing nation was 
destroj-ed by the arms of the Iroquois. ^ 

While they were building me a chapel, I began visiting the 
cabins in order to know the people, and chiefly to seek out 
the scattered sheep of the ancient church of the Hurons, and 
endeavor to lead them back to the fold of Jesus Christ' 
These good people were overjoyed to see me and hear me 
speak of the Faith. It was not possible to satisfy their de- 
sire in this regard. Some of them said to me that it was not 
enough to pray to God but once a day. Others complained 
that I spent too little time in preaching of our Lord and 
Paradise. Some of them even reproached me with partiality 
in that I had preferred others to them, as I did not visit them 
as much as I did the others. Indeed these poor souls were 
so hungry and thirsty for righteousness and their salvation, 
that I had difficulty in persuading them that as soon as the 
chapel should be finished, their good desires would be com- 
pletely satisfied. 

My round of visits being finished, I found about forty 
adult Christians who had preserved faith and prayer, been kept 
from the general dissoluteness of the country and were living 
in all the purity of Christianity. All the rest of the Hurons 
gave proof of great eagerness for holy baptism ; and I have 
remarked in them an assiduity so exact and such constancy 
in prayer, pubhc and private, that I have great hope that 
they all will become devoted Christians. Shall not such 
fidelity and constancy in the Faith in these invincible Hu- 
rons serve in the day of judgment to condemn the indolence 
and corruption of the Christians of Europe? These barba- 
rians, who had just started into Christianity when the Iro- 
quois compelled them by force of arms to take part with 
them, have nevertiieless preserved for this long time their 

1 In 1649. 



33 

faith in the midst of the corruption of a people abandoned 
to all sorts of vice and superstition ; and scarcely were they 
imbued with the principles of the Chiistian religion, when 
they were transported into the very home of disorder and 
abominations, destitute at the same time of pastors, having 
neither preachers to fortify them in the Faith, nor confessors 
to reconcile them with God, nor any of the external means 
with which Europe is so amply provided. Thus to live with 
fidelity, in prayers and innocence of manners, and with an 
ardor for their salvation equal to that of the first Christians, 
is it not something that ought one day to put to shame the 
weakness and unfaithfulness of so many Catholics who cor- 
rupt and destroy themselves, in the possession of all the 
means of piety and salvation ? 

As for the Onnontiogas, Tsonnontoiians (Senecas) and Neu- 
ters since they have scarcely ever seen Europeans or heard of 
the Faith, it is a work to absorb all the zeal of the mission- 
ary, who will find it no small labor to cultivate a field the 
Evil One has possessed for so many ages. The chapel being 
finished, the llurons came to pray to God with great fervor. 
I said the holy mass to them, and they assisted with a rever- 
ence and devotion which charmed me, and was i)leasing in 
the sight of Heaven. A venerable person served me as 
catechist, and as he knew the prayers well, he pronounced 
them with an elevated and distinct voice, easily understood 
and followed by all the others; and this zeal of the Hurons 
extended even to their children. These little savages were 
eager to persuade those of the other nations to accompany 
them to the chapel and pray with them. This compelled 
their fathers and mothers to come and see what they were 
doing, and, in some cases, to follow their example, to avoid 
the shame of being outdone by them. 

What I have most admired in those Hurons who have 
for many years been Christians, is the open profession which 



34 

they are accustomed to make of their faith, whicli is more 
difficult than one can well imagine, among a people wholly 
infidel and barbarous, without blushing for the gospel, nor 
caring for the insults and ridicule of the pagans ; and so well 
convinced were the other nations of their constancy in the 
Faith, that they give them no other name than that of Be- 
lievers, and The Faithful ; and such is the reputation two of 
them have acquired in the entire region for virtue, that all 
the people revere them. 

One of these bears the name of James Atondo and the 
other Francis Teoronhiongo. The first gives himself almost 
continually to prayer, and in his ordinary conversation speaks 
only of God, alike to Christians and infidels. He is very 
exact in his observance of all the commandments of God. 
" If you but knew," he is wont to say to them " what prayer 
is and the power it has to make us happy, you would all 
pray to God without ceasing. You are so careful in doing- 
all that your dreams require ; you spare neither feasts nor 
presents, nor any expense to render them propitious and 
secure through tliem good success in fishing, in hunting, and 
in war, and a long life as well ; but nevertheless you see 
plainly that you are involved in poverty and misery ; that 
sickness and the enemy are every day taking many of you 
out of the world. As for myself, I pray to the Master of 
Heaven and earth, and the Sovereign Lord of our lives, and 
He gives me strong and vigorous health at an age very ad- 
vanced. I catch ordinarily more fish than you ; I am, by His 
grace, better ofl: than you are, and what overwhelms me with 
joy is, that when I come to die, I hope to be happy to all 
eternity ; and as for you others, you will only exchange the 
evils of this wretched life for torments and eternal fires." 

The second named Francis Teoronhiongo who was formerly 
the host of the late Father Le Moyne,' is an old man of ap- 

1 See account in Relation 1662, p. 8. 



85 

proved faith, and has not passed a single day in twenty-seven 
years without saying prayers. He has instructed his wife 
and children in the Faith and reared his entire family in 
holiness. Now that he is intelligent in our mysteries and 
as he is familiar with the history of the New Testament, his 
greatest pleasure is in discoursing about it to all he meets, 
both Christian and heathen, so that if the gospel had never 
been published in this country by the missionaries, he alone 
had spoken enough of it to justify the ways of God concern- 
ino; human salvation. 

He has said to me many times, that during the twenty 
years he has been separated from our Fathers, he scarcely 
passed a day without earnestly beseeching our Lord the grace 
that he should not die before being confessed and without 
having previously prayed to God with some one of the mis- 
sionaries. " Ah my God," he said, " Thou hast shown so 
great indulgence for me ; Thou hast already granted me so 
many favors, wilt Thou refuse me this that I now ask? Shall 
I be so unhappy as to die without being confessed? Hast 
Thou called me to Christianity, only to leave me to finish my 
life without participating in its holy mysteries ? The frailty 
of man is so great and his nature so inclined to sin, that I 
have strong reason to tremble as guilty before Thee, and de- 
serving death eternal. And what will it avail me to have 
been baptized, to have prayed to Thee, if I am to be so 
wretched as to be finally damned ? No, no, ni}^ God, I hope 
for this favor of Thy mercy. Thou art all powerful; and 
when Thou dost will it, our Fathers will come to instruct us, 
and I trust in Thy pit}^, that I will not end my life without 
the benefit of receiving the sacraments." I doubt not that 
prayers so sacred may have contributed much to the estab- 
lishment of this mission. On learning of my arrival, the first 
thing he said to me was, " At last God has heard me. Con- 
fess me." 



36 

At another time when conversing with him of his deceased 
parents, he said : " Why should I regret them? My mother 
died immediately after receiving baptism. Almost all my 
near relatives have yielded their souls into the hands of the 
Fathers who have made them Christians. They are all happy 
in Paradise. I hope soon to go and find them. The greatest 
unhappiness I have had in my life," he added with a sigh, 
" is that one of my children died some years since, without 
being able to confess his sins. He was thirty years old. He 
had lived badly, and though I had taken pains to make him 
a good man, he despised Cvqually the law of God and the 
warning of his father ; and what afflicts me sorely is that he 
died in this sad condition, without the opportunity of being- 
reconciled with God by confession. I have only one child in 
the world, and he is at present out to war. If God dispose 
of him, I shall have but little trouble in consoling myself, 
since thou did'st confess him just before he went away." 
This goes to show what ideas our savages have of Paradise 
while as yet they are not fully instructed in our mysteries. 

I baptized the past year a young M^oman of the more dis- 
tinguished of Seneca, who died the day after her baptism. 
The mother was inconsolable at her loss, since our savages 
show extraordinary affection for their children ; and as I 
was endeavoring to calm her grief by representing the infi- 
nite happiness her daughter was enjoying in Heaven, she 
artlessly said : 

" Thou dost not understand. She was a mistress here, and 
had at her command more than twenty slaves who are still 
with me. She never knew what it was to go to the forest 
to brino; wood or to the river to draw water.' She knows 



1 This probably had reference to the village Totiacton north-west of Honeoj-e Falls 
where the river was not far distant from the town. This was eight years previous to 
Greenhalgh's visit in 1677. While residing on the site south-west of the falls they prob- 
ably obcaiued water from the small brook flowing west of the village.— J. S. C. 



37 

nothing about house-keeping. Now, I have no doubt that 
being for the present the only one of our family in Par- 
adise, she will have much trouble to accustom herself to 
the change, for she will be compelled to do her own cook- 
ing, go for wood and water and provide with her own hands 
what she needs to eat and drink. In truth, is she not to be 
pitied in having no person who is able to serve her in that 
place? Thou seest here one of my slaves who is sick. I 
pray thee instruct her fully and show her the path to Heaven, 
that she b}' no means miss the way, but that she may go and 
lodge with my daughter and relieve her of all the affairs of 
her household." 

I took advantage of the occasion and of the simplicity of 
this woman, to instruct the sick slave. I spoke to her ; I 
found her disposed to listen to me ; I exhorted her ; I in- 
structed her ; she opened her eyes to the truth and desired 
of me baptism, which I could not refuse, thinking her in im- 
mediate danger of death. But God determined otherwise, 
for in time her health was restored ; and now she conducts 
herself in all respects as a worthy Christian. 

After a while, as I sought to instruct the mistress — she 
having gradually given up her low and gross notions of 
Paradise — to enable her to form a more correct and worthy 
idea of supreme happiness, she assured me that there was 
nothing in the world she was not willing to do to reach the 
place ; that she was resolved to go and join her daughter, to 
dwell with her in the same blessed sojourn ; after which she 
remained faithful in prayer and assiduous in the means of 
instruction. She manifested the same zeal in having all 
her slaves instructed how to pray to God ; and it may be said 
that through her alone, there were won to God more than 
twenty persons. 

During the six months since I came here, I have baptized 
twenty or twenty-live savages. There are besides, ten or 



38 

twelve adults who are prepared to receive that sacrament. 

Owing to the unusually abundant harvest of walnuts this 
year, the joy of the people is so great, that one sees scarcely 
anything but games, dances and feasts which they carry even 
to debauch, although they have no other seasoning than the 
oil. ' But what consoles me in all these disorders is, that 
only two of our Christians have lacked the courage to resist 
the solicitations of the sorcerer, to make a certain supersti- 
tious banquet in which all who join the dance, throw hot 
ashes on the sick, thinking this to be a sovereign remedy for 
the disease. 

The Iroquois, strictly speaking, have but a single Divinity 
and that the Dream. They render it absolute submission, 
and follow all its demands with scrupulous exactness. The 
Senecas are much moi'e devoted than the others. Their 
religion, in this regard, goes to the last scruple, since what- 
ever the}^ suppose is told them in the dream, they hold them- 
selves absolutely bound to execute as speedily as possible. 
The other nations content themselves with observing the 
more important dreams ; but this people who are looked 
upon as living more religiously than their neighbors, think 
themselves guilty of a great sin if they disregard even one. 

They think of nothing else ; they talk of nothing else ; all 
their cabins are full of their dreams. They spare no labor 

1 " They parch their nuts and acorns over the fire to take away their rank oiliness, 
which afterwards pressed, yield a milky liquor, and the acorns an amber-colored oil. 
In these mingled together, they dip their cakes at great entertainments, aud so serve 
them up to tueir guests as an extraordinary dainty." Lederer's Discoveries, IGGO-VO, p. 21. 
" Butternut. — The kernel is thick and oily and soon becomes rancid ; hence, doubt- 
less, are derived the names of Butternut and Oilnut. These nnts are rarely seen in the 
markets of New York and Philadelphia. The Indians who inhabited these regions, 
pounded and boiled them, and separating the oily substance which swam upon the sur- 
face, mixed it with their food." North American Sylva, translated from the French of 
F. Andrew Michaux— Paris, 1819. Vol. 1, p. 163. " Shell-Bark Hickort.— The In- 
dians who inhabit the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan, lay up a store of these 
nuts for the winter, a part of which they pound in wooden mortars, and boiling the paste 
in water, collect the oily matter which swimsupon the surface, to season theiraliments." 
lb. p. 185.— J. S. C. 



39 

or pains to manifest their devotion, and their folly on this 
subject goes to the last measure of excess imaginable. One 
dreams during the night that he has bathed himself ; upon 
which he rises immediately, wholly naked, goes to a number 
of cabins, at each of which he makes the inmates throw over 
his body a kettle full of water, however cold it may be. 
Another who dreamed that he was taken captive or burned 
alive, caused himself to be bound the following day, after the 
manner of a prisoner to be burned, persuading himself that 
having in this way satisfied his dream, his fidelity v/ould 
avert fi-om him the pain and infamy of cajrtivity or death, 
which otherwise it had been revealed by his divinit}" lie 
sliould suffer among his enemies. 

There are some who have been as far as Quebec, and trav- 
eled one hundred and fifty leagues to have a dog which they 
had dreamed they could purchase there. It is easy from this 
to judge in what peril we are every day among a people who 
would tomahawk us in cold blood, if they dreamed they 
ought to do this. Since it is a little thing that gives offence 
to a savage, it is eas}^ for his imagination once excited, to 
represent to him in a dream that he should take vengeance 
on him who had caused the offence. We appear to ourselves 
as victims liable to be taken any moment to torture ; and 
since one is made to die a hundred times by the ever present 
image of death, we esteem ourselves happy in approaching 
so near to martyrdom. 

The infidel women, by inclination natural to the sex, are 
the more devoted in observing their dreams, and following 
the commands of this idol. It is true that the worship which 
this people render, would rather pass for a superstition than 
a form of idolatry, as they neither pay adoration to the dream 
nor offer it any sacrifice. They are confident from a certain 
infallible experience, that whatever they dream and fail to 
execute, it always comes back to tliem in some misfortune, 



40 

mysteriously expressed in the dreanx I have remarked at 
the same time, that the greater part of these savages are at 
less pains to obey their dreams while in health, but the mo- 
ment they have the shghtest ailment, they are persuaded 
that there is no such sovereign remedy for their healing, and 
to save their life, as to do all they have dreamed. The sor- 
cerers, who are the same as priests of their divinity, contri- 
bute not a little to establish them in this superstition, since 
they are always called in to explain the dream ; and, since 
they know admirably well how to turn it to their profit, they 
live and enrich themselves of this poor people, who, so soon 
as they are sick, spare nothing in doing whatever the sorcerer 
declares the dream ordains.^ 

This is the greatest obstacle to the spread of the Faith 
among these people ; and it is not too much to say that it is 
the one stumbling block to the Christian ; since as to druuk- 



1 Father de Car'aiel, who, when among the Cayugas, gave this subject of dreams par- 
ticular attention, and seems to have been more than usually successful in convincing the 
Indian mind of the absurdity of yielding them implicit obedience, writes : "I have ear- 
nestly couibated their superstitions, particularly the divine authority they attribute to 
dreams, which may be said to be the foundation of all their errors, as it is the soul of 
their religion. 1 have nevertheless recognized two things in my efforts to combat it" 
First, that it is not properly the dream that they worship as the master of their life, buj 
a certain one of the genii they call Agitkouchoria, who they believe speak to them in 
sleep and command them to obey implicitly their dreams. The principal one of these 
spirits is Tarcmhiaouagou (Upl^older of the beavens ) whom they recognize as a divinity 
and obey as the supreme master of their life; and when they speak of a dream as divine, 
they only mean, that it is through it they know the will of God and what is necessary 
for the preservation of their life; and furthermore that the actual doing of the things 
they had seen in a dream, contributes to promote their health and happiness. They also, 
sometimes give the name of the master of their life to the object of their dreams, as for 
example to the skin of a bear or to similar things which they have seen in their sleep ; 
and because they regard them as charms to whicli God has attached the good fortnne of a 
long life. Thus they take special care to preserve them with this view, and when they 
are sick cover themselves with them or place them near their persons as a defenec 
against the attacks of disease. The second thing I have recognized in combating the 
obedience they render to their dreams, is that they are not able to understand how the 
soul acts during sleep, in thus representing to them objects distant and absent, as if near 
and present. They persuade themselves that the soul quits the body during sleep, and 
that it goes of itself in search of the tbings dreamed and to the places where they see 
them ; and it returns into the body toward the end of the night, when all dreams are 
dissipated." See Eaily Chapters of Cayuga History, pp. 54, £5. 



41 

enne&s, strongly as they are addicted to it, nevertheless, tlie 
women and old men do not abandon themselves to excess. 
One is thus enabled to hope that their example and the zeal 
of the missionaries, may moderate the deportment of the 
young warriors who breathe only for blood and brandy. 

For the overthrow of this superstition of the dream, I have 
found no method more efhcacious, than to make them see 
clearly and by way of inference, that the faithfulness of any 
number of people whom they know to have carried out the 
observance of their dreams, has neither saved them from death 
or captivitv, nor from destruction itself of their entire nation. 
This consideration has served me, in this countr}^, to unde- 
ceive and open the eyes of many, thus leading them to detest 
the whole thing, both the superstition of the dream and the 
bad faith of the sorcerer. 

Nevertheless, in general, we may say, that there is nothing 
more efficacious to attract the Iroquois to the Faith, than to 
subdue their pride by the might of arms ; and by as much 
as they fear those of the French, will the_y lessen the obsta- 
cles to their conversion. 

God has his elect not only among the Iroquois where he 
has his missionaries, but he permits them to go forth carry- 
ing war to regions most distant, and bring back captives to 
introduce them into the sacred liberty of the children of God 
and thence to Paradise, from the prisons and fires of the Iro- 
quois. Thus we are led to adore from day to day the hidden 
and mysterious ways of Divine Providence toward his elect. 

Two captives of the Gandastogue having been brought 
here to be burned, according to the custom, the first being 
so well instructed and giving all the marks of a saintly dis- 
position to receive baptism, I conferred it, and after fifteen 
hours of terrible torture which he endured with true Chris- 
tian resignation, he left the earth to go to Heaven. The 
other at the first, was unwilling to listen to me, and having 



42 

repelled me many times, I was at length compelled to leave 
liim, that at his leisure he might reflect on what I said to him 
of heaven and hell ; but in a short time he called me to him 
of his own accord, saying that it was all good, and that he 
wished to obey God and be saved. I baptized him on giving 
him the necessary instruction, after which it was manifest 
that faith was truly wrought in his heart. He was taken 
immediately to the place of torture, and from the happy mo- 
ment of his conversion to his latest breath, he sang all the 
time, with a courage invincible — "Burn my body to your 
heart's content ; tear it in pieces ; this torture will soon be 
over, after which I go to heaven ; I go to heaven there to 
be eternally happy." He pronounced these words with such 
faith and so great fervor, that one of our good Christians who 
witnessed the burning, and who did not know that I had 
instructed and baptized him, said to those standing by : 
" This captive has truly the Faith ; it must certainly be that 
he has been instructed by some one of our Fathers, who is at 
Gandastogue. " 

Thus it is that God gathers his elect from all parts of the 
world. A woman who had been taken prisoner from a coun- 
try far distant, some days after her arrival here, was seized 
with a dangerous malady. I repaired immediately to the 
cabin where she was, to endeavor to instruct her; but she 
could not understand me, as I was ignorant of the language 
of her country, and it was not possible to find any one to act 
as interpreter. I saw nevertheless that she was rapidly sink- 
ing, and that she was about to enter the final agonj^ From 
that moment my heart was cut with grief at seeing the loss 
of a poor soul which God had brought to the very threshold 
of Paradise. Leaving the cabin, wholly penetrated with affec- 
tion and sorrow, I took myself to pra3^er and commended to 
God the salvation of this soul with all the fervor of which I 
was capable ; I employed at this same point the merit of the 



43 

Holy Virgin of all the saints. At last, having for a long time 
invoked the compassion of our Lord in behalf of this woman, 
I was strongly iaclined to return to her cabin and recommit 
her to her good Angel. 

Scarcely had I done the one and the other, when I saw en- 
ter two women whom I did not know, and who were not of 
the town where 1 reside; the one and then the other ap- 
proached near the sick one and giving her many caresses, as- 
sured her that they were come to console her and that they 
would by no means leave her. A meeting so happy, so un- 
looked foi", greatly surprised me, since I could not but think 
that this meant that God had sent two Angels from Heaven 
to instruct and baptize this poor woman. I then asked if 
they were willing to serve me as interpreters, to procure for 
the sick person, about to expire, eternal happiness. They 
both offered themselves to render this good office. I ex- 
plained to her the mysteries of our Faith ; they repeated all 
my words in her language, with plainness and also such 
unction as enlightened the spirit of the sick one and at the 
same time touched her heart. I was delighted with the zeal 
and fervor with which each of these good catechists labored 
for the instruction of this foreigner. They exhorted her and 
pressed her to quickly open her eyes to the truth, since she 
had but a very short time to live. 

They pointed her to the open heaven ready to receive her. 
Not content with faithfully interpreting my words, they 
added, themselves, motives and reasons, which at last com- 
pelled this poor woman, who was scarcely able to speak, to 
make a final effort for her salvation. She then caused me 
to approach her bed and gave me to perceive that God Him- 
self had instructed her, and that He had in this short time 
wrought in her great things. I baptized her as quickly as 
possible, seeing her so well disposed, and in some moments 
after, she expired to go and possess in heaven eternal glory. 



44 



Is not this a miracle of the grace of God ? And should 
we not be thrice happy that He is so willing to serve Him- 
self of us, as the instrument of His mercy? 



IV. 

The conclusion of Father Fremin's narrative, discloses some 
of the more seri(;as obstacles encountered by the missionaries 
in their work, and at the same time gives a vivid picture of 
Iroquois life and manners more than two centuries ago. The 
brief reference to the Cajuga mission, recalls the labors of 
the devoted and gentle Menard, its founder in 1657, who, 
four years after, lost his life among the forests which bor- 
dered Lake Superior, while on his way to plant the cross 
among the savage tribes of that distant region, as he was 
among the first to do on the banks of our own Cayuga.' 



1 Father Rbne Menard, who was born in lfi04. had been in France confessor to Mad- 
ame Daillebout, one of the founders of Montreal ; but of his previous history we linow 
nothing. He came to Canada in the Esperance, which sailed from Dieppe on the 36th of 
I^Iarch, 16iO, and, after being compelled to put back by storms, reached Quebec in July - 
After being director of the Ursulines, he was sent to the Maroa country, and succeeded 
Raymbaut as missionary of the Algonquins, Nipissings, and Atontratas. On the fall of 
the nurons he was stationed at Three Rivers until May 1656, when he accompanied the 
French expedition to Onondaga, and from thence accompanied Chaumonot to the Cay- 
ugas in August of the same year. He remained for two months, when he was recalled 
to Onondaga, but soon after returned and remained until the missions were broken up 
in lesr ; after which he returned to Three Rivers, and remained there until he was 
chosen in August 1660 to succeed Garreau in an attempt to begin missions among the 
Western Algonquin tribes. He set out with a flotilla of Indians and after great suffer- 
ing reached Lake Superior and founded the mission of St. Teresa among the Ottawas 
at Keweenaw Bay, Oct. 15. He labored here during the winter and was planning a mis- 
sion among the Dakotas, when his services were urgently solicited by a band of Karons 
then at the source of the Black river, a branch of the Mississippi. He set out for their 
village in July 16ol, and perished of famine or by an Indian hand, near the source of the 
Wisconsin in Lake Vieux Desert in the early part of August 1661. For the place of his 
death, which has been much debated, we adopt the theory of Rev. E. Jacker, who to 
a close study of the data, adds a personal knowledge of Indian life and their trials ia 
Wisconsin and Michigan. 



46 

The narrative of Father Fretnin (chap. IX. Relation^ 1670) 
is concluded as follows : 

Before finishing this Relation concerning our Iroquois mis- 
sions, I will give here in the form of a journal, what remains 
to be said of the condition in wdiich they are at present, and 
of what has occurred this year. 

As there were no more sick in Tsonnontoiian, I started on 
a journey to Onondaga, where the missionaries of this coun- 
try meet to confer together on the methods of laboring more 
efiiciently for the salvation of these people, and of overcom- 
ing the numerous obstacles in the wav of their conversion.' 



' It so occurred that during the absence of Father Freuiin at the missionary council 
held in Onondaga, La Salle, in company with two priests of the Sulpitian order, M. 
DoUier de Casson and Rene de Biehau de Galinee, visited the Senecas in furtherance of 
his first expedition to prosecute his discoveries toward the Mississippi. The party 
landed at Irondequoit Bay, the nearest point by water to the principal village of Son- 
nontouan, distant about twenty miles, the tenth of August, the very day that Father 
Fremin arrived at Cayuga on his way to Onondaga, and some five or six days after he 
had left the Seneca village. La Salle and his companions were escorted from the land, 
ing place by a large company of Indians to the village, where they arrived on the twelfth 
of August, and which is described in the journal of the expedition "as a collection of 
cabins surrounded with palisades twelve or thirteen feet high, bound together at the top 
and supported at the base, behind the palisades, by large masses of wood of the height 
of a man. The curtains are not otherwise flanked but form a simple enclosure, per- 
fectly square, so that these forts are not any protection." At the council held the next 
day, the servant of Father Fremin acted as interpreter, and presents were exchanged. 
La Salle requested that a captive from the country of the Toagenhas (probably the 
Ontouagannha also called Mascoutins, nation of the Prairie, and Nation of Fire, at this 
time located in the southern part of present Wisconsin, between Lake Michigan and the 
Mississippi) might be given him as a guide to conduct the expedition to that people. 
This they promised to do as soon as the young men. who were away trading with the 
Dutch to whom they carried all their captives, should return, which would probably be 
In ten or twelve days. In the meanwhile a quantity of Dutch brandy was brought to 
the village, followed, as usual by a drunken debauch, in which La Salle and his asso- 
ciates were threatened with death ; and a Toagenha captive whom they desired for a 
guide, was put to the most cruel torture of six hours' duration, when his body was cut 
to pieces and prepared for the feast. Thus the visit of La Salle to the Senecas resulted 
in disappointment, and by the detention he lost the most favorable season for traveling. 
The expedition reached no farther than the mouth of Grand river on the northern side 
of Lake Erie. There they were overtaken by the winter and made their camp in the 
neighboring woods, where they remained until the following spring, when De Casson 
and Galinee went west, La Salle having returned to Montreal the previous autumn. 

It has been alleged that Father Fremin left Tsonnontouan for Onondaga at this par- 
ticular time, to avoid acting as interpreter to La Salle and the Sulpitians, or aiding the 



47 

The 10th of August, 1669, I had the happiness to embrace 
Father de Carheil at Oiogoiien (Cayuga), from whence I wrote 
to the others of our Fathers, who are among the Iroquois, to 
assemble at Onondaga the last of the month, where we would 
meet them. I had the leisure in the meanwhile, to tarry 
some days at this mission, where I was witness of the faith 
and courage of the earlier Christians whom the late Father 
Menard had, himself, baptized ; many even of the infidels 
themselves, had not forgotten the prayers which he had 
taught them. Indeed all in this recent church, gave me very 
great consolation and strong hope of the conversion of the 
entire country. Father de Carheil is greatly beloved. No 
one opposes the Faith. Many of the sachems come to pray 
to God in his little chapel. He has undertaken another, 
which is to be much larger and more commodious, and which 
will be completed in a couple of months. I think that then 
thev will come in great numbers to worship God. It is Rene, 



object of their enterprise. But tliere is no evidence that he was notified of their com- 
ing, much less that his assistance was desired. Indeed the narrative of Galinee would 
seem to dispose of the whole story as au after thought. Speaking of the council held 
on their arrival at the Seneca town, he says : " When we saw the assembly large enough 
we began to talk of business, and ihen it was that Mr. de la Salle avowed that he was 
not able to make himself understood." The inference here is th;it, his Sulpitian com. 
panioiis had been led to suppose La S;ille capable of conversing with the Senecas, and 
only when it c.ime to the point, was it discovered that he could not. But more than 
this. The narrative continues : " On the other hand, my interpreter saw that he did 
not know French well enough to make himself well understood by us, hence we deemed 
it more expedient to make use of Father Fremin's man to make our speech and to 
report to us what the Indians might say ; and in fact the matter was so transacted. It 
is to be remarked that Father Fremin was not then at his mission station, but had gone 
a few days before to Onondaga to attend a meeting to be held of all tlie missionaries 
scattered among the Five Iroquois nations. There was only Father Fremin's man 
there who served as an interpreter." It appears then, that DoUier de Casson had an in- 
terpreter also, who broke down, and that then they applied to Father Fremin's man, a 
donue or mission aid, who actually did all they required. 

There is no hint in the whole narrative of dissatisfaction with Fremin's man, or of 
any reluctance on his part to serve them. In fact, the impression from the whole is, 
that they came prepared, entirely independent of the missionary, but when La Salle 
and Dollier de Casson's interpreter, both admitted their inability, they were thankful to 
obtain the services of Fremin's man. Parkman, in his La Salle, &c., (1880) p. 14, com- 
pared with his Discovery of the Great West (1869) p. 13, completely rejects the charge of 
La Salle against the Jesuits. 



48 

his associate, wlio is both the architect and builder. It will 
in no respect resemble the cabins of the savages, except in its 
covering of bark. In all other particulars it will resemble a 
house such as they build in France. Behind the altar he has 
contrived to make a small room. Every one in the whole 
town speaks of the skill of Rene. lie dispenses various med- 
icines which he prepares, himself, on the spot; he dresses all 
kinds of wounds and heals them ; he treats all the sick. 
Many Cayugas said to me, that but for him they would have 
died. One cannot believe to what extent he is loved by 
these savages. Would that it might please God that each of 
our missions had a man like him ! 

The 20th of August, Father de Carheil ' and myself, ar- 



iFather Stephen de Carheil was born at Visnne, November 20, 1C33. He entered 
the Society of Jesus, August 30, 1052, and arrived in Canadti, August 6, ]6t)6. He was 
sent to the Cayuga Mission in 16G8, wliere he remained until 1684, at the breaking up 
of the Iroquois Mission, when he was driven from the canton by Oreliaoue and Sara- 
noa, the two principal chiefs of the tribe. He then became connected with the Ottawa 
Mission, where he labored until early in the next century. Charlevoix, who saw him 
in 1721, at the age of 88, describes him as then "full of vigor and vivacity." He had 
sacrificed the greatest talents which can do honor to a man of his profession, and In 
hopes of a fate like that of many of his brethren, who had bedewed Canada with their 
blood, he had employed a kind of violence with his superiors to obtain a mission whose 
obscurity sheltered him from all ambition, and offered him only crosses. There he 
labored untiringly for more than sixty years. He spoke Huron and Iroquois with as 
much ease and elegance as his native tongue, and wrote treatises in both these lan- 
guages. French and Indians concurred ia regarding him as a saint and genius of the 
highest order. It was through the influence of de Carheil that the famous Huron 
Chief, Kondiaroiit, commonly known as " The Rat," was converted to Christianity, and 
who, (himself an extraordinary man,) was accustomed to say that there were but two 
Frenchmen of talent in all Canada, the Count de Frontenac and Father de Carheil. The 
Indian name of this Father was Aoudechete. He early impressed the Cayugas with 
his courage by acting as a sentinel on a certain occasion when a rumor that a party of 
Andastes, their most dreaded enemies, were near at hand, had filled the town with 
alarm, and when he accompanied their warriors to repel the expected attack. In 1702, 
and while stationed at Michilimacinac. he bore a prominent part In what is known as 
"The Brandy Quarrel," ia resisting with his personal influence and the power of the 
pen, what he styles (in his letter to tlie French Intendant; " the deplorable and infa- 
mous traffic in brandy, " which he declares has been fruitful only "of disorders, bru- 
talitj', violence, scorn and insult." among the Indians, till it had become impossible to 
maintain the missions, and nothing remained " but to abandon them to brandy sellers 
as a domain of drunkenness and debauchery." Father de Carheil died at Quebec in 
July, IT-'G, at the advanced age of 93 years. For a more extended sketch of this ac- 
complished missionary, see Early Chapters of Cayuga Eistory, pp. 78-81. 



49 

rived at Onondaga, where in waiting for Father Bruyas who 
is at Oneida, and Father Pierron who is at Mohawk, I had 
time to consider the affairs of oar early mission ; and all 
appeared in the same state it was when we left it, in the 3^ear 
1658, except that the Onondagas were greatly humiliated 
shortly after by the Gandastogue, as nearly all their braves 
had been slain in the war. They spoke to us with great gen- 
tleness, and in all respects were more tractable than before. 
There is a church of early Christians, which numbers about 
forty who live becomingly. Many present themselves for 
instruction. Garacontie is our true friend. That Prince and 
Oi'ator visited me with all the courtesy imaginable and did 
for us many kindnesses. 

The 26th of August, Father Bruyas^ and Pierron arrived, 
and we had the consolation of seeing our entire number (six)' 



1 Father James Brutas, was a native of Lj'ons, arrived at (Quebec, August 3ci, 1606 
and on the 14th of July, of the following year, set out for -the Mohawk country and 
thence in September for Oneida. Having been appointed chief of all the Iroquois 
missiots, in IBTl he returned to the Mohawks. He was among the Senecas in 1673, but 
returned to the Mohawks and remained there until succeeded by Father Francis Vaillant 
at Tionnontojjuen, in 1C7'9. In 1G84 he was in charge of the mission at tire Sault St. 
Louis, on the Si. Lawrence, and in 1687 accompanied the French expedition against the 
Senecas under Denonville. lie was again at the Sault in 1691, and in 1693 became supe- 
rior of his order in Canada and retained this position until 1700. In 1C99 the Onondagas 
being desirous to conclude a peace, visited Montreal and invited Father Bruyas, to 
return as Ambassador with them, but their request was refused uatil they would con- 
clude a treaty at Montreal, and in the fall of that year he was sent with Major La Val- 
liere with the king's letter announcing the termination of hostilities between England 
and France, (La Potherie, IV. 1.31.) In the summer of 1700 the Iroquois renewed their 
request and Father Bruyas proceeded to Onondaga {La Potherie, IV. 148,) where he ar- 
rived in August and returned the month following with a delegation that concluded a 
flnal peace between the French and Five Nations which lasted for more than 50 years. 
He visited Onondaea again in July 1701 on public affairs, and acted as interDretor to the 
Iroquois at the grand ratification of peace in August following, bj' all the Indians (La 
Potherie, IV. 241.) His death took place among the Iroquois in 171-2. He was the t'estau- 
thority of his day as a philologist of the Mohawk laugunge, and compiled several works 
in that dialect. (His Racines Agideref published by Dr. Shea as number X. of his lin- 
guistics.) 

•i Including Fathers Gamier and Milet at Onondaga, whose names are not given in the 
text. Father Pierron was transferred the following year from the Mohawk to the 
Seneca Mission and Garnier accompanied Freminon his return to the Senecas. Father 
PiERBE Milet arrived in Canada in 16o7, and was sent the following year to Onondaga 



50 

together to deliberate on all matters, during the six days we 
were engaged in concerting measures needful to the success 
of our missions, and for overcoming the obstacles which hin- 
der the progress of the Faith in the country of the Iroquois. 
As we were about to separate, lo an Iroquois messenger of 
Monsieur, the Governor, arrived there from Montreal, with 
belts of wampum, and letters from your Eeverence and from 
Father Cliaumonot, by which we were advised that the 
French had massacred, near Montreal, seven Oneidas with 
one of the most distinguished of the Senecas. This news 
produced a terrible excitement throughout the nation. A 
council was held immediately to deliberate on what had been 
done, and at which we were summoned to be present. The 
deputy coldly rehearsed the whole affair. He was bold to 
change on his own responsibility, the belts, taking the more 
beautiful one of five thousand beads, all black, which he ac- 
corded to this nation and only gave to the Senecas that which 
was the least esteemed. But the letter of Father Chaumo- 
not had informed us of all these matters ; and we all strenu- 
ously opposed him in this, and at last compelled him to act 
in strict accordance with his instructions. Garacontie having 
met, in the town, one from Seneca gave to him the belt which 
was for that nation, saying to him : " It is too far for me to 



■where he received the name of Teharonhiagannra, or the looker up to heaven. He was 
removed to Oneida in 1671 and labored there until July 1684, when he left and joined De 
la Barre on Lake St. Francis, Aug. 1. At the request of the Marquis de Denonville, he 
was appointed Chaplain to Fort Fronttnac in 1685, where he acted as interpreter in 1687; 
and in 1688 succeeded de Lamberville as Chaplain of the fort at Niagara. He returned 
to Fort Frontenac in 1689, and being lured outside the palisades to attend a dying In- 
dian, was taken prisoner by the Oneidas and his life saved by adoption into an Oneida 
family. During his captivity the English made many efloris, though in vain, to get him 
in their power, for which purpose Governor Fletcher sent Direk Wessels to Oneida. 
He was adopted into the tribe by a Christian agorander, Susan Gouentagrandi, and re- 
ceived the name of Otassete, that of the leading sachem of the first or Turtle branch of 
the tribe. Father Milet continued in this capacity until the fall of 1694 when he returned 
to Quebec. He asked to be returned again as missionary to those Indians, but the 
aspect of the times did not permit it. Charlevoix who was in Canada from 1705 to 1722 
lived several years with Milet and speaks of him in terms of high esteem. Father 
Milet died at Quebec, Dec. 31, 1708. 



51 

go myself. Eepresent thou to thy sachems the voice and 
desire of Onontio." As to the belt designed for those of 
Oneida, he said that since they would shortly come to Onon- 
daga to hold a general council, he would make known to 
them the will of Onontio. Without doubt a single affair of 
this nature is most unfortunate, and is enough to rekindle 
war between the Iroquois and French. 

Scarcely had the council finished its business, when there 
was heard through the town, the cry of an Oneida, who had 
fortunately escaped from the hands of a troop of warriors of 
the nation of the Nez Perces. At this cry, they reassembled 
in council, to listen to the rehearsal of the adventure. "We 
were," he said, "five in one band. We were returning victo- 
rious with two prisoners, of Toiiagannha ; but unfortunately 
encountering a company of warriors of the nation of the Nez 
Perces, we were defeated, my four comrades having been 
slain, or taken together with our two captives ; I alone am 
escaped from the combat' Consider well the matter in dis- 
pute and how it should rouse to vengeance a people so fierce 
and indomitable as are the Iroquois." We did not learn 
what action was taken on the subject. What I am able to 
assure you is, that we are, by the grace of God, prepared for 
any event, according as it shall please Him to dispose of us, 
and that we esteem ourselves too happy to be able to offer 
our lives a sacrifice to Him. 

Taking our departure from Onondaga, we arrived on the 7th 
of September, at Gandachioragoii ;'" and, as we were passing 
through Gandagaro," a drunken savage seized Father Gar- 
nier with one hand and raised the other at two different times 
to stab him with a knife ; but fortunately, a woman happened 
near enough to this barbarian, to wrest the knife from his 



1 Here we have evidence of the proximity of the Toiiagannha to the Nez Perces or 
Pierced Noses. 

2 See Seneca Towns, p. 25. 3 ibid. 



62 

hand, and prevented him from carrying farther his brutal 
design. I could not but admire in this encounter, the firm- 
ness and self-possession of the Father who did not betray the 
least sign of fear. 

Three days after our arrival, he took charge of the mission 
of Gandachioragou,^ where there are three or four Christians 
who have made open profession of their faith. He has only 
the charge of a single town, at least for the present year, in 
order that he may have time to acquire more perfectly the 
language of the country, and make for himself rules and a 
dictionary, that he may instruct the others; hence I am 
obliged to take care of the three other towns. 

The twenty-seventh of September, as I was about to leave, 
to assume charge of the mission of St. Michael, I was taken 
ill, and compelled to remain for several days until the vio 
lence of the attack was passed. 

After the first of September, the youth of the place, ac- 
cording to the custom, start for the open country ; and the 
rest of the inhabitants who are able to endure the fatigues of 
the war or the chase, follow soon after. Of the latter there 
are about five hundred capable of war, divided into many 
bands who all go against the Touagannha, and four or five 
hundred to hunt the beaver, which the}^ take in the direction 
of the country of the Hurons. The latter take their women 
and children with them, so that there remain only a small 
number of old people. I learn that it is the same at Goio- 
goiien, and that they, also, divide themselves into hunters and. 
warriors. This is very deplorable, as the result is that num- 
bers from these nations die without baptism, as these expe- 
ditions are attended with the loss of many people, and what 
grieves me is that we are not able to remedy the evil. But 
God who knows Ilis elect does not fail to fni-nish them the 



1 See Seueo;i Towns, p. 25. 



53 

favorable opportunity to gain Paradise. We are often hin- 
dered by such absences and expeditions common to these 
people, from laboring for their instruction with the success 
we could desire. The greater part of those who belong to 
the towns where we were established, are away either at the 
war or the chase, nine months out of the year ; and for a 
month previous to their departure, the youth are accustomed 
to abandon themselves to excess in drinking, till they become 
furious ; so that excepting the old people and the women 
who are not addicted to such disorders, it is next to impos- 
sible to find opportunity to speak to them. 

The Seneca arrived by way of Onondaga, in charge of the 
belt of wampum, which Onontio sent to the Senecas, in the 
matter of the death of one of their warriors, who was slain 
by the French. The belt was received with a marked cold- 
ness, and although the exemplary punishment which Mon- 
sieur the Governor inflicted upon the assassins, led them to 
approve of his conduct and applaud his justice, I think, nev- 
ertheless, that they would have been much better satisfied 
with ten belts of wampum than with the death of three 
Frenchmen, since they would not be disposed to render the 
same justice in similar circumstances. They declare, how- 
ever, that they are content with this satisfaction; and I do 
not think they will dare to carry their resentment farther, 
nor attempt anything against the French. 

The 27th of September, as I thought m3^self sufficiently 
recovered from my illness, I set out on the journey, to take 
charge of the mission of St. Michael in the town called Gan- 
dagarae.' Our brave Christian, Francis Tehoronhiongo, met 
me and conducted me to one of the finer cabins of the town, 
that of a person of consideration although an unbeliever, 
whose authority gave me protection against the insolence of 
the drunkards. 

The third of November, which was the Sunday after the 

' See Seneca Towns, p. 25. 



64 

Festival of All Saints, the cliapel being in order, I invited 
all our savages to come there to pray to God and be present 
at the Mass, which I was to say early in the morning. The 
chapel being full of people, I began my exhortation by de- 
claring the object of my coming, and accordingly begged 
them to ojDen their eyes to the truth, to recognize the God of 
heaven and earth, to put away everything that was displeas- 
ing to Him, and by their consistent fidelity, render them- 
selves worthy of eternal happiness. I hope of the goodness 
of God, that His grace will dispose their minds to relish the 
truth of Christianity, and undeceive their vain superstition, 
beside drunkenness and the dream which are the two obsta- 
cles to the Faith among the Iroquois. 

Father Gamier continues to labor bravely in the town of 
Gandachioragou. God serves Himself of him for the con- 
version of some souls toward whom His compassion has been 
extraordinary. More than twenty persons, happily, having 
been baptized, died most Christian-like. But it is evident 
that sufferings are the lot of the apostolic missionary, and 
that one must give himself up to the providence of God, 
laboring hard, and leading a life which may be called one 
continual death. 

The missionary labors of Father Fremin in New York, 
close with the foregoing narrative, he having been transferred 
to important service in the vicinity of Montreal' 



1 Father James Fkemin arrived in Canada in 1655. He accompanied Dablon to On- 
ondaga in 1656 and remained there until the breaking up of the missions in March, 
1657 ; was then for two years at Miscou ; next year at Three Rivers and Cape de la 
Madeleine. In 1666 he was assi£;ned to the Cayuga Mission, but did not serve and 
next year was sent to the Mohawks. Near the close of 1668 he visited the Senecas and 
resided at Sonnontouan and remained there until the arrival of Farther Gamier in the 
following year, when he changed his residence to Gaudagarae, the south-eastern of the 
Seneca villages, laboring in that village and Gandagaro until 1670, when he was recalled 
and assigned to the mission of St. Francis Xavier, then located at La Prairie. This 
mission was removed to the Sault St. Louis in 1676, and in 1679 he visited France in its 
behalf. He was again in Canada in 1682, and died at Quebec on the 20th of July, 169i. 



V. 



The last chapter concluded the account of the mission for 
the year 1669 when Father Fremin was called to the residence 
of St. Francis Xavier^ opposite Montreal, leaving Father 
Gai'nier in sole charge of the Seneca Mission. The follow- 
ing narrative for the succeeding ^^ear is contained in Chapter 
V. of Relation 1671 : Second part. 

Although the nation of the Seneca may be more rude and 
savage, having less intercourse with the French, and farther 
from the requisite disposition to embrace the Faith, neverthe- 
less our Fathers who have labored in their missions for the 
past two years, have found there choice souls ; and Father 
Garnier who at present has the entire charge of them, requests 
assistance in the hope that these people who are more numer- 
ous than all the other Iroquois, may at length be tamed, and 
give excellent scope to the zeal of the missionaries whom it 
may please God to send among them. The little that he 
sends us is well adapted to touch and attract hearts tilled 
with the Holy Spirit. The miracles of grace wrought there, 
give us to see that the hand of God is not shortened ; more 
than one hundred and ten baptized this year, are manifest 



1 Tlie place was originally designed as aresort for the missionary Fathers, to which they 
might retire iu their annual retreats or in case of sickness ; but it had already become 
a mission home where converts from the several Iroquois cantons might take refuge from 
the constant persecution of their own kmdred, and also from the bad example and cor- 
rupting influence of their Pagan countrymen who were becoming more and more 
debauched by their intercourse with New York traders. The new village increased 
rapidly, and iu 1674, had its organized government with permanent Christian institutions. 



66 

proofs of this, as well as the fervor and courage of some souls 
of the elect. 

x\n old Christian named Francis Tehoronhiongoof the first 
of the churcli of St, Michael, distinguished for his eminent 
virtue and for the authority he has acquired over those of his 
own nation (Hurons), having recently lost by death an inti- 
mate friend, a good and very virtuous Christian, very sud- 
denly, was so impressed by the circumstance of the import- 
ance of dying well, and the necessity of being ready at any 
moment to make the passage on which depends eternal hap- 
piness or misery, that he is not able to divert his thoughts. 
Such was the effect of this grace upon him, that from that 
time he formed the resolution, which he has inviolably kept, 
to debar himself from all feasts where he saw any appearance 
of superstition or of sin ; and as the time approached when 
the infidel savages course through the towns for the accom- 
plishment of their dreams, he made public proclamation in 
the towns of St. Michael and St. James, that no person should 
approach him or any of his relatives to satisfy his dream, 
since he had done with this ceremony, and renounced these 
things at his baptism ; and as he did not recognize in a dream 
anything divine, so he would neither render worship to his 
own dream or the dreams of others. 

One of the sachems of the town for whom that people have 
great respect, and desire to please, approaching him in the 
course of this public ceremony with a threat that unless he 
accorded to him what he had dreamed, he would imjDute to him, 
as is the belief of these people, all the misfortunes that might 
befall him, the menance did not in the least disturb him. 
He replied, proudly, that being a Christian, he had no fear ; 
he made the same reply to all who importuned him on the 
subject. This Christian consistency has won for him such 
confidence and respect, that if he happened unexpectedly in 
a gathering where the infidels are conversing together of 



57 

things immodest or to the disparagement of the Faith or of 
Christianity, they immediately change their conversation ; 
many apply to him for instruction in our holy m3^steries 
wliicli he understands perfectly ; also to learn the prayers.' 

Divine Providence serves himself the oftener of affliction to 
dispose them to listen to his holy speech; humiliation and 
misfortune render them the more docile. The same Father 
writes us that never has he had more attentive hearing than 
since the burning of the town of St. Michael which occurred 
last spring, when all the cabins with the cliapel, were re- 
duced to ashes, without the possibility of saving anything, 
neither furniture, corn, nor anytliing necessary to life. These 
poor people do not appear in any wise troubled by it, but 
on the contrary they testify to the Father that they recog- 
nize God has punished them justly for their infidelity and 
the resistance they had maintained till then, to the progress 
of tlie gospel. They beg earnestly that .he will by no means 
leave them ; they promise so soon as they have rebuilt their 
cabins and their pahsade for security against their enemies, 
to set up a chapel much more beautiful than the former one, 
and that they will be more assiduous in prayer than in the 
past. The Father adds that they make their protestation in 
terms so strong and with such marks of sincerity, that he is 
firmly persuaded they will keep their word. Fial^ fiat. 

We recognize even more sensibly in their fatal maladies 
the effects of grace, and the fruits the daily instructions pro- 



1 This aged man and his wife left the Seneca towns in Kjn, with a son and a grand- 
child to spend their remaining days at the mission of the Mountain of Montreal ; hav- 
ing become free by the death of the heads of the cabin in which he had been so long a 
slave. He was received there with joy ; already known by the annual Eolations of the 
Jesuits for his fervent piety, he justified his reputation by his conduct at the mission by 
his labors for the poor and afflicted, where he finally became blind, as was supposed by 
his intense devotion. He died in 1690, at the advanced age of 100 years ; and the in- 
scription over the place of his burial, in one of the aucient towers on tlie Mountain of 
Montreal, reads : " He was by his piety and probity the example of Christians, and the 
wonder of unbelievers." 



58 

cluce on minds that, at tlie time, appear the more rebellious 
and opposed, to the Faith. I give here among others two or 
three examples which appear to be attended with circum- 
stances the more remarkable. 

A Seneca of the town of St. James,' very aged and a per- 
son of consideration, having been taken sick, the Father 
visited him and offered on his part to render him all possible 
assistance for the relief of his malady and the salvation of 
his soul. He refused both roughly, so that the Father was 
compelled to withdraw after some kind attentions, in order 
not to prejudice him at the outset. Many days passed with 
him in this ill nature, during which the Father was able to 
do nothing, except to intercede with God for the miserable 
one, who to all human appearance must die without baptism 
and in unbelief, the door of his cabin closed and all access to 
him denied. 

In the meanwhile, the Father was well apprised that he 
was visibly sinking, which was to him an unspeakable sor- 
row. It is only for those who have had the experience, to 
understand what it is to see a single unfortunate soul, that 
one has come to seek from across the sea, so near to perdition 
without being able to give aid. and succor in rescuing it from 
the danger ; but the goodness of God who shows Himself 
equally favorable to the poor savage as to the greatest mon- 
arch of earth, extended his hand toward him in an unlooked 
for manner. As these people are guided by their dreams, it 
was permitted that in sleep he should see the Father who 
gave him a medicine most efficacious for his recovery. This 
was enough to induce him to send with all possible dispatch 
and, on his own part, beseech the Father to come and visit 
him immediately. He was found at St. Michael, where, 
awaiting the moment of grace, he had gone to visit his 



1 Gandagara. See note on Seneca towns, p. 35. 



I 



59 

church. He left everything at this news and returned with 
all possible speed. The sick man was overjoyed at his com- 
ing ; made him take a seat at his bed and said to him ; 
" Ourasera (which is the Indian name for the Father) give 
me, I pray thee, immediately, the medicine; I have seen it, 
while dreaming, in thy hands and it will cure me." "Ah, 
my brother,'' replied the Father, " most willingly, I am about 
to give thee a medicine, but very different and far better than 
that wdiich thou hast seen in the dream ; thou art in no 
farther need for the body, which is in no condition to be 
benefited ; a medicine of this nature, would only serve to 
hasten tlie end of thy life. The great Master of life, who 
loves thee, commands me to give thee a medicine which is 
wholly heavenly, and will restore life and health to thy soul ; 
deliver it from eternal death ; procure for it instead of this 
poor life which we have in common with the animals, a life 
of everlasting happiness in heaven, by the help of baptism." 
While the Father was speaking, the Holy Spirit wrought 
npon the heart of the savage, and at the word baptism of 
which he had spoken many times without effect, he roused 
himself as from a deep sleep and besought him, earnestly, to 
remind him of the instructions, which at other times he had 
given him to prepare him to receive the sacrament. This 
the Father was prompt to do, and the sick man listened with 
joy and consolation. Having nevertheless judged it proper 
to defer his baptism until the morrow, at the break of day he 
visited him and found him in holy impatience to see himself 
of the number of the children of God, having passed the en- 
tire night in acts of faith and contrition, and in reciting the 
prayers taught him the previous day, which in no particular 
had he forgotten, so far as observed by the Father, the sick 
one having repeated them from memory in his presence. He 
then received holy baptism with sincere devotion ; and hav- 
ing passed the wdiole day and mght in praising God, asking 



60 

that lie might "be taken to paradise, he died the following- 
da j, leaving this impression v;itli his pastor, that he was in- 
fallibly of the number of the elect. 

I conclude this chapter with an extract from a letter which 
I have received from this same missionary in these terms: 
" Drunkenness caused by the beverages which the infidels 
obtain from the Hollanders, brought moi-e than eighty 
leagues by land, is now more universal than ever, extending 
even to the women ; and these disorders continue for twelve 
or fifteen days after the arrival of each band of traders. Dur- 
ing all this time as there is neither food nor fire in their 
cabins, they are abandoned day and night. The rest of the 
people flee for concealment to the fields and the woods. 
Amid all this debauchery, the virtue of our Christians shines 
out brightly. They are steadfast in their duties and show as 
great aversion to these orgies, as they are foreign to their 
profession. The drunkards, themselves, evince this respect, 
that they do not come near the chapel.^ We have our as- 
semblies as usual on Sundays, and our Christians gather 
with great pains fi'orn their hiding places, hearing mass with 
as much quiet and devotion as at any other time of the year. 
I have more concern for the sick, not knowing where to find 
them. I have not failed to baptize certain ones, among 
them, an adult, who after a year of labor, gave me much 
consolation. He was a catechumen and sufficiently diligent in 
the ordinary prayers. One day, finding him very ill, I judged 
it proper, with his consent, to prepare him for baptism. I in- 
structed him to this end, in the mysteries of our faith, and 
caused him to perform the acts necessary to prepare him for 
this sacrament, which, nevertheless for good reasons, I de- 
ferred. Then finding him delirious and in danscer of death, I 



1 This was often the only refuge of the raissionarj' against personal violence to which 
from various causes, he was exposed ; but more especially, in scenes such as are here 
described. 



61 

did not scruple to baptize him. Some time after coming to 
himself, lie called me and said angrily that I had deceived 
him ; that in his dream he had found himself in heaven 
where the French had received him with the whoops that 
they (savages) are accustomed to make on the arrival of their 
captives of war, and that at the time he made his escape, they 
already had the fire brands in their hands to burn him. As 
for the rest, that the water which I poured upon his liead 
was a spell and sorcery which would cause his death or fix 
his fate to be burned eternally in tlie other world. I had 
recourse to God, more especially, in this juncture so unex- 
pected ; and at last. He gave me grace after three hours of 
conflict, with mildness and kindness, to convince and unde- 
ceive him. lie gave up all these delusions caused b};' the 
demon that would destroy him. He recovered with admira- 
ble behavior his first thoughts, and the sentiments of a soul 
truly converted. lie ordy desired to die. ratlier than offend 
God any more, and be eternally happy in heaven. He made 
of his own accord a petition at the close of the ordinary 
praj^ers in these words : " Thou who art in heaven have pity 
on me; draw me, as soon as possible from here below, that I 
may be perfectly happy in heaven." 

One other sick person has consoled me still more, acting in 
the matter of Ins health in a most extraordinary manner for 
a savage, and wdio has given noble testimony to the Faith. 
To gain him to God, besides the frequent instructions I gave 
him, I spared myself in no respect night or day, to minister 
to him and leail him to believe that I strongly desired his 
recovery. One day, perceiving clearly that my remedies were 
without effect, and that he was continully growing vvorse, 
nevertheless, seeing my extraordinary earnestness to relieve 
him, lie said to me : " My brother, I see well that tliou art 
my friend, but I praj^ thee no I'Miger think of my body, but 
apply thyself rather to save my soul ; it is all over; I shall 



62 

die ; I can no longer doubt, and what is important is to die 
well." I then instructed him fully and l}aptized him. From 
that time, well satisfied and thinking only of Paradise, he 
commenced to sing his song, which they call the death song, 
but in very different terms from those he formerly would 
have used, in straits or while an unbeliever. '' It is Jesus," 
he said, " who is the Master of my life ; he leads me to heaven, 
never more to sin ; nevermore to dream ; the great Master 
in heaven forbids it." These were his last sentiments which 
he clung to even unto death. 

After all it is to be confessed that these peoples ai-e strongly 
opposed to the Faith, and that the conversion of even one 
savage is a stroke from heaven. The freedom that they cher- 
ish more than their life ; the ai'i'ogance which is their nature 
as well as the fickleness of their resolutions; the impurity in 
which they are reared ; the strong attachment they have for 
their dreams and superstitious customs ; their sports and or- 
dinary occupation in the chase and in the war, which renders 
them unsettled and keeps them for the most of the time in 
the field or forest, besides the demon of drunkenness, which 
has possessed them for some ^-ears, are without doubt great 
hinderances for the permanent establishment of religion. 
Nevertheless, the zeal, the ti-ust, the devotion, patience and 
forbearance of our missionaries, surmount all these obstacles 
and give us reason to hope that God will increase the bless- 
ings already bestowed, beyond even what He at present gives 
to their labors. It is already a great advantage, that they 
know the language ; that they have found access to their 
minds ; that they are loved and esteemed among them ; that 
they have entire freedom to preach, in public and private, 
the word of God, and that there is scarcely a family in all 
their country that is not more or less instructed in the prin- 
cipal mysteries of our Faith. Many possess the Faith, 
although still attached to their evil customs and are not 



63 

Christians by profession. They evince this in their maladies 
when often of their own accord, they send for our Fathers 
lest they should die without baptism. 

Prayers are regularly observed in each town, both morning 
and evening, in the chapel where the catechumens are gath- 
ered, and where Christians receive on Sunday the sacraments- 
There also they go tlirough the catechism, in addition to the 
instructions given them each day in tlieir cabins. Numbers 
of little children escape to heaven through the grace of bap- 
tism, it being one of the chief solicitudes of our Fathers to see 
to it that not a single one of these dies without the sacrament. 
It is thus that, in spite of hell, these little churches make pro- 
gress. There is none of them that does not contain choice 
souls, who imitate the fervor and charity of the Christians of 
the first ages, and furnish by their good example a powerful 
motive for the conversion of others. In a word, our evangel- 
ical laborers are so far from thinking that there is nothing; to 
be done for the Faith among these peoples, that they call 
upon us from all sides and ask us for reinforcements with all 
conceivable urgency, i)articularly those who labor in these 
lands full of briers and thorns, for the culture of peoples more 
barbarous and rebellious toward the Gospel. 



YL 



The following letter of Father Julian Grarnier, still in sole 
charge of the three missions of the Conception, St. Michael 
and St. James, occapies Chap. VII. First Part of Jielaiion. 
1672. 

The spiritual condition of these missions, depends largely 
upon temporal affairs, and more than all on the disposition of 
mind to maintain peace with the French. The sachems of 
the town of Gandachioragou' had given me the assurance, 
in a council assembled for the purpose, that they desired to 
pray to God, and in fact certain of them began to do this ; 
and though I had not as yet seen in them the essential prin- 
ciples of the Faith, nevertheless, their example led the people 
to listen to me and gave me every liberty to visit and instruct 
the sick. But rumors of a French invasion, very soon, 
overturned these small beginnings. Their minds being 
thus badly disposed, the evil one takes occasion to raise an 
outcry against the Faith and those who preach it. An old 
man who came here some years since from Goiogoiien — a 
troublesome spirit, but skillful in speech, who does what he 
will with our Senecas and passes among them for a wonder- 
ful person — proves to them that the Faith produces death, 
for the reason that of whole families who formerly embraced 
it, when the late Father Menard, the apostolic missionary, 
resided at Cayuga, not a single soul, as he declares, remains 
He further says, that the Black-gowns are only here as spies 
who report everything to Onontio, that is. Monsieur the Gov- 



1 See note on Seneca towns, p. 25. 



65 

ernor, or that they are sorcerers who accomplish by disease 
what Onontio could not effect by force of arms. I know of 
a certainty that they have deliberated concerning my death 
as a spy and as a sorcerer ; our host himself, Onnonkenrita- 
oiii/ the most prominent of the chiefs of this great nation, 
has often proposed to his sister to kill me, while she, at the 
same time, has shown a great distrust of me on account of 
her little daughter who often fell sick. As I do not retire 
at as early an hour as is their custom, and as I remain a 
considerable time in the evening, to pray to God in the 
chapel, they persuade themselves that I cannot employ my- 
self in any other manner, than in holding communication 
with some demon in plotting the ruin of their family. Thus 
my life, humanly speaking, depends upon the health of this 
little daughter, and I run a great risk of losing it, if she 
should die. There would be as much cause for me to fear, 
should any one bring the news of the probable march of the 
French into this country. Many have assur-ed me in advance, 
that should this ha}i|)en, they would certainly tomahawk me.'^ 
In this it is, my Reverend Father, that I am happy, and 
that I esteem the felicity of niy mission which compels me 
to consider each moment as the last of my life, and to labor 
joyfully in this state for the salvation of these poor souls. 



1 Danoncaritaoui of Gandachiragou assistant of Tegaroiihies, as keeper of the ■west- 
ern door, the latter exercising jurisdiction over the most northern of the two western 
towns, the Sonnontouan of the Relations. 

2 Father Menard at Cayuga was repeatedly threatened with death as a sorcerer. He 
relates that a warrior lodging in the same cabin, for three nights in succession, attempt- 
ed to kill him. and was only prevented by his host and friend Saouchiogwa, the chief of 
the canton. The persecution of the missionary Fathers as sorcerers was also common 
among the Hnrons. They were charged with causing not onlj' personal calamities, but 
all the miseries of the nation, and at times it would appear, that nothing short of spe- 
cial divine intervention stayed or turned aside the murderou.^ blow of the infuriated sav- 
age. Father Jogues was killed among the Mohawks on chartie of being a sorcerer. A 
belief in sorcery and witchcraft appears to have prevailed very generally among the 
Indians of Americi. Tlie Ziinis in their recent visit to the Athmtic coast in charge 
of Mr. Frank H. Gushing, while passing through Salem, looked upon the place with great 
reverence and awe, as bemg the place where witches once lived, and were burned. 



66 

One single infant secure in heaven tlirough holy baptism, is 
sufficient to change into sweetness all these bitter trials. 

This old man of whom I have spoken, takes advantage of 
everything that has occurred of late, and particularly of what- 
ever those who have been to Quebec, have reported against us. 
It by no means needed this, to turn from prayer and to em- 
bitter against us a people so suspicious, and who are entirely 
given up to sorceries and superstitions ; hence they cease to 
come to the chapel. If I enter their cabins to seek out the 
sick, they regard me with an evil eye ; and if I attempt to 
instruct, the)^ ordinarily interrupt me with insulting speech. 
Any sudden outbreak of drunkenness, in such circumstances, 
compels me to retire to the chapel where I have always found 
refuge. I wonder that, in these troubles, never but in a sin- 
gle instance, has a drunkard come to seek me there, and him 
they prevented, nevertheless, from doing me injury. Dur- 
ing eleven months there have died in all tlie towns of this 
nation, thirty-three baptized persons, almost all infants. We 
have baptized seven others who are still sick; in all forty. 

The mercy of God has been great toward certain baptized 
adults, among others, toward a captive of the Ontoiiagannha 
or Chaoiianong, advanced in age; ordinarily they bring as 
captives, only the young men from countries so distant. God 
so ordered it that, happily, I should find myself in this place, 
on his arrival with an interpreter, the only one I know of 
this language in this country ; he heard with pleasure all that 
I taught him of the chief mysteries of our Faith and of eter- 
nal hap})iness in paradise. At length I found him disposed 
to baptism, and I think he entered heaven the same day he 
arrived at Tsonnontolian. Divine Providence had conducted 
liim bound, more than three hundred leagues, to enable him 
to find here the true liberty of the children of God. 

A woman being seized with epilepsy, threw herself in the 
midst of a large fire and before she could be rescued, was so 



67 

severely burned, that the bones of her hands and arms fell 
away one after the other. As I was not in the village, at 
the time, a young Frenchman that I have with me, who is 
well acquainted with the language and performs worthily the 
office of a catechist, hastened thither ; and having found her 
in her right mind, spoke to her of God and His salvation, in- 
structed and performed for her all the necessary acts on the 
occasion and baptized her. This poor creature spent the 
eight or ten days that remained of her life, in prayer ; this 
as her only consolation in her terrible suffering, and extreme 
andonment of all human succor, which she endured with 
. .;nirable patience, in the hope of eternal life. These are 
effects of divine grace, which make themselves understood 
in these barbarous countries most obviously, and which 
greatly alleviate the toils, fatigues and afflictions of a mis- 
sionary. 

A Christian young man of a strange nation who died a most 
saintly death, touched me greatly whenever I encouraged him 
to pray to God during his last sickness ; his- affection and 
devotion were visible in his eyes, over his countenance and 
in the fervor of his speech ; his relatives were struck with 
admiration ; he assured me over and over again, that he de- 
sired death that he might the more speedily see himself in 
heaven. Such sentiments are a most manifest token of 
faith. A Christian Huron woman has given to us similar 
proofs ; she had, in short, allowed herself to be persuaded in 
the prostration caused by along sickness, that a superstitious 
feast would heal her ; but she discovered her mistake, and of 
her own accord desired to make public reparation, manifest- 
ing great grief at having obeyed the instruments of hell, 
whom she upbraided in good earnest for the wickedness they 
had shown in giving to her advice so detestable.' 

' Father de Carheil gives an account of one of these feasts of healing, to which he 
was invited, at Tiohero, one of the stations of the Cayuga mission.— .Sfee Early Chapters 
of Cayuga Uistory, pp. 42-3. 



68 

TheHuronsof the Mission of St. Michael, manifest greater 
desire than ever to return to Quebec to augment the church 
of Notre Dame de Foj^e.' Some of them who are not now 
Christians, dech\re that tlien they would embrace the Faith. 
The most notable and aged of them all, took up the word in 
continuation of a short lesson that I had given touching thi^ 
matter, and declared that for himself, he would not wait so 
long a time to become a Christian ; that he had from this 
hour formed the resolution ; that he renounced his dreams 
and all that was forbidden of God ; that he would present 
himself for continual instruction ; that he would not fail a 
single day to assist in the pra3'er and that he would exhort 
others to follow his example. He has held to his word thus 
far, and I hope that soon he will be baptized, 

I conclude for the present, with a worthy act of Chris- 
tian courage. An aged person of this little church, wdio has 
performed with great edification the office of catechist for 
more than twenty 3'ears, during which it had been deprived 
of a pastor, in consequence of the wars of many years, hav- 
ing learned that his only son had been killed on the spot in 
a battle with the Gandastogue, he w^as afflicted to the last 
degree, although with entire resignation to the will of God, 
which he constantly evinced in acts of heroism. But what 
surprised every one was, that a second report having been 
brought in, that the young man was not dead and that the 
wounds he had received did r.ot appear to be mi^rtal, as he 
had been borne away on a sort of a litter, the old man at 



1 This mission was founded by Father Joseph Chaumonot, from a small Huron colony 
which sought refuge on the Isle of Orleans opposite Quebec, and which he himself ac- 
companied, the year after the destruction of their nation. Here he remained with the 
exception of the years 1655-8, when he was at Onondaga preparing the way for the 
establishment of the Iroquois missions. In 1093, tlie year of his death, he removed the 
mission to a new site where he erected a church and chapel modeled on the Holy 
House of Lorette, and perfectly like it in form, materials, dimensions and furniture. 
From this circumstance the mission took the name of Lorette. Here the Flurons lonar 
enjoyed great prosperity.— See Shea's Catholic Misdons, pp. 197, li)S. 



I 



69 

: e regained his spirits and breathing into his faith new 

_\ >r, lie passed the day in rendering thanksgiving to God, 

^ full of reverence and gratitude. The whole village gathered 

;; in a body at his cabin in order to testify to him their joy, 

^and they left it with a high estimate of his virtue. 

After all, I have remarked that it is not so much the de- 
generacy of manners that prevents our savages from being- 
Christians, as the false ideas which, for the most part, thej^ 
have concerning the Faith and of Christianity. I know nearly 
two hundred families, among others, in firm and permanent 
^'^ "Triages, who bring up their children morally well; who 
. 'jid their daughters too free outside acquaintance, so that 
they are kept from dissipation and lewdness ; who have a 
horror of drunkenness, and who only need the Faith to lead 
in all respects Christian-like lives. It is this gift of God that 
.. e implore without ceasing for these poor souls, who are the 
price of His blood, and whom I commend very specially, my 
Eeverend Father, to your holy pra3'ers and pious sacrifices. 

TsoNNONTOUAN, July 20, 1672. 



VII. 



This letter of Father Gamier comprises chapter VII. of Be- 
lation 1672-3/ and pertains to the missions of the Conception 
and St. Michael. 

" We have never discharged our duties with more of quiet, 
or with more of freedom than the present year. The Father 
P. Eaffeix/ arrived at the Conception, at the end of July, a 
month after I resumed charge of St. ]\Iichael, where I had 
not been for a year, as the village had entirely burned down, 
and as I was left alone at Tsonnontoiian. I have received 
all the satisfaction I could hoi)e for in our Christians, from 
their assiduity in frequenting the chapel, morning and even- 
ing, for the prav^er, and from their promptness in coming 
every Sunday to the instruction that I give them before the 
mass, as well as for the zeal with which many of them bear 
testimony in support of the party of the Faith in the pres- 
ence of lewd persons who talk against it. A certain person 
having said, one day at a superstitious feast which she had 
given, that the fear of my reproofs had kept her for a length 
of time to her duty; "the fear of God and His judgments 
should restrain you alwa3^s," replied a good Christian who 
was present; and as he was acquainted with our mysteries, 
he followed with excellent instruction in the hearing of all. 

AYhat has given esteem to the prayer, is the example of 



1 Relation ce qui s'est pmse de plus remarquable aiix Missions des Peres de la Compag- 
nie de Jesus en la Novvelle France les annes 1673 et 1673 Par le Pev. Pere Claude Dablon. 
This Relation was printed by John Gilmary Shea in 1861. 

2 Father RafEeix had left the previous year to take char£;e of the Cayuga mission in 
the ahsence of Father de Carheil for the recovery of his health. 



71 

the principal men who are foremost to come to pray to God. 
The Chief of the Harons allows no occasion to pass, without 
exhorting, especially, the old nien to embrace the faith with- 
out delay ; and were it not for the eagerness with which they 
recur to superstitious remedies in their sicknesses, this church 
would largely increase in a short time. The Neuters and 
the Onontiogas, who form a part of the town, are at last 
softened by the example of the Hiirons and at present come 
to the prayer in common with them. 

As there is not yet a chapel in the town of St. James, 
which, however, at one time was larger than St. Michael, I 
was obliged to make up the want, by frequent visits among 
the cabins, both to baptize the sick infants and to instruct 
the adult sick and others. I assist them in the prayer, after 
the instruction in the cabins; and many have come to meet 
me at St. Michael and to pray to God in the chapel. The 
complaint that each one makes to me when I go to see them 
is, that we prefer the Hurons to them ; and that of all the 
Iroquois principal towns, this is the onl}" one that has not a 
missionary among them ; if 3'our Keverence would do us the 
favor to send us a third, I have hope that he will be well re- 
ceived.' It is necessary there for the commencement of a 
church, which can only be successfully done l)y a person who 
resides on the spot, since there are many infants and adults 
who die before I learn of their sickness, and consequentlv 
without assurance ; for the reason that I am not on the 
ground, whatever diligence I use, it will be that some con- 
tinually escape. 

I have baptized since the month of Jul}', 1672, forty-three 
infants, of which twenty- nine rejoiced soon after in the hap- 
piness which baptism had brought them, and many of the 
others still languish; and twelve adults, of whom nine died 



1 Father Pierroii was soon after sent to St. James in accordance witli this request. 



72 

shortly after their baptism and left me excellent signs of 
their predestination. Besides these, many infants are dead, 
baptized in preceding years. Among the twelve adults whom 
I baptized, the divine mercy appeared more especially toward 
certain ones who appeared to offer the greatest resistance to 
the grace. The first was an old man, strongly attached to 
the superstitions of the country, and above all to the princi- 
pal one, which is the fulfillment of their dreams. God served 
Himself of this, at the same time for his salvation ; for after 
having listened often to what had been said of the great 
Master of all things who is in heaven ; of the mercies which 
He bestows upon those who are obedient, and the judgments 
which He inflicts upon those who are rebellious, i^ was per- 
mitted that He Himself be shown to him in a dream, which 
offered to him his friendship, and promised to -him all kinds 
of good in heav^en. I had no further difficulty in persuad- 
ing him that if he would listen to the word of God, he would 
have pity upon him. " I doubt no more," replied the sick 
man, " make me to understand His will as soon as possible, 
that I may execute it.'" 



1 Frequent reference is made in the previous articles of tliis series, as indeed ttirough- 
out both the Huron and Iroquois Relations, to the power of dreams over the savage 
mind, v.hich when once interpreted, were to be executed at all hazards. The Senecas, 
according to Father Fremin, were exceedingly scrupulous in this obedience to their 
divinity. This superstition retained its hold among them long after, as may be inferred 
from the following incident given by Morgan in his Iroquois Leawie, (in a note to page 
214) which, in this connection, will be read with interest : In 181U the celebrated Corn- 
planter, chief of the Senecas, resigned his chiefship in consequence of a dream. " Dur- 
ing a New Year's celebration at his village on the Allegany, he went from house to house 
for three daj's, announcing wherever he went, that he had had a dream and wished to 
find some one to guess it. On the third day a Seneca told him he would relate his 
dream. Seeing him nearly naked and shivering with cold, he said, you shall henceforth 
be called Ouono, meaning cold. This signified that his name, Gyantwaka, should pass 
away from him and with it his title as chief. He then explained the interpretation to 
Cornplanter more fully ; that he had had a sufficient term of service for the good of the 
nation ; that he was grown too old to be of much further use as a warrior or a coun- 
sellor and that he must therefore apppoint a successor ; that if he wished to pre. 
serve the continued good will of the Great Spirit, he must remove from his house and 
sight every article of the workmanship or invention of the white man. Cornplanter 
having listened with earnest attention to this interpretation, confessed that it was cor- 



73 

Another old man of the Ouenro nation, whom I had so- 
hcited for a long time to become a Christian, fell sick ; his 
wife, who was the only one to take care of him also was 
taken sick and died a few days after, as she had lived, in a 
Christian-like way. The man seeing himself in the last ex- 
tremity, commenced to listen to the instruction that I gave 
liim. He had no other consolation upon earth but the hope 
of Paradise, which strengthened in him continually in the 
measure that he became disgusted with his life. 

I conclude with the baptism of a young woman who lan- 
guished for a long time. She was of a gentle and innocent 
disposition and readily remembered, as well as listened to 
my instructions. Both her parents, who had a great aver- 
sion to the Faith, told her continually that she should not 
listen to me ; that I only deceived her and that she would 
find in lieaven only lires in place of the happiness I had 
caused her to hope for. As the savages have great respect 
for their parents and believe readily all that they say to 
them, this good woman for a length of time prayed to God 
conditionally ; " If it is true that one is happy in heaven, 
Thou who art the Master of it, have pity on me and conduct 
me there after my death." After laboring for a long time to 
remove the suspicion with which they had inspired her, I 
had the consolation of seeing her depart life entirely con- 
vinced of the truth of the Faith, and with great desire to go 



rectly guessed and that he was resolved to execute it. His presents, which he had re- 
ceived from Washington, Adams, Jefferson and others, he collected together, with the 
exception of his tomahawk, and burned them. Among his presents thus consumed, 
was a full uniform of an American officer, including an elegant sword and his medal 
given him by Washington. He then selected an old and intimate friend to be his suc- 
cessor, and sent to him his tomahawk and a belt of wampum to announce his resolu- 
tion and wishes. Although contrary to their customs, the Senecas, out of reverence for 
his extraordinary dream, at once raised up as chief the person selected by Cornplanter, 
and invested him with the name of Gyantwaka, which he bore during his life. Corn- 
planter, after this event, was always known among the Iroquois under the name of 
Onono. His tomahawk, the last relic of Cornplanter, is now in the State Historical Col- 
lection at Albany." 



74 

to heaven, wliicli made her importunate to be baptized as 
soon as possible. Seeing her in so holy a disposition, T ac- 
corded to her desire ; and going to see her the following day, 
I learned that she had died soon after her baptism. At the 
same time, I learned that a youth wounded with an arrow, 
was in extremity ; I baptized him and in an hour afterward, 
he died. Seven adults and eight children baptized by Father 
Eaffeix, who died shortly after baptism, increased the num- 
ber of the elect." 

It was in this 3^ear (1673) that Frontenac began the fort, 
which subsequently bore his name, near the outlet of Lake 
Ontario ; but in order to quiet any suspicions the Iroquois 
might take at such a movement, he despatched La Salle to 
Onondaga, the capital of the confederacy, to arrange for a 
council to be held at Kente^ the last of June, and should he 
judge proper, to convey word of the same to the other vil- 
lages. The following letter of Father Garnier to Frontenac, 
written from Tsonnontouan, under date of July 10, 1673, 
(translated from the Margry Documents, L pp. 239-240,) will 
show how the proposition was received by the Senecas. 

"After presenting you with my most humble respects, and 
assuring you that I share largely in the general joy at your 
happy arrival in the country, praying God that He would 
assist you by His spirit, in order that your plans may suc- 
ceed to the advancement of His holy service ; for the honor 
of the King, and for the welfare of the whole country, it is 
my further duty to inform you of what is passing in this 
quarter regarding the King's service. As soon as I received 
your commands, conveyed by Sieur de la Salle, I made them 
known to the savages of this nation, which comprises three 
principal towns; two are composed of the natives of the 



1 The place was changed at the request of the Iroquois, and the councO was held at 
Cataracoui, the site of the projected fort. 



75 

country, and the third, of the remnants of several Huron 
nations, destroyed by the Iroquois. Altogether, the}^ are 
able to raise about eight hundred men, capable of conduct- 
ing war against their enemies. The chiefs of eacli village 
have been deputed to meet you at the place which you have 
designated. They have made peace with all the nations with 
which M. de Coiircelles' had forbidden them to make war, 
the King having taken them under his protection. They 
have recalled all their young men, no more to turn their arms 
against that region, Their greatest desire now is, to carry 
on commerce with Montreal whither they will gladly take 
their skins, if their commodities find as good a market there 
as at Orange, where this year they have advanced in price. 
They greatly desire that the French should dwell in their 
country, above all such as will be most usefiil, as blacksmiths, 
and armorers. These are the requests they make for them- 
selves. I am, etc." 

The French occupation of the Niagara Kiver under La 
Salle, in 1678, rendered it expedient to send another embassy 
to the Senecas, to quiet their suspicions, more particularly 
with reference to the j^roject of building there a vessel to 
facilitate purposes of trade.'- The mission was confided to 
the Sieur de la Motte, accompanied by the Recollect Father 
Louis Hennepin, who records the journey of five days from 
Niagara, in the dead of winter, and their reception at the 
Seneca village.^ The next day after their arrival (January 1, 
1679), mass was celebrated in the little bark chapel and a 
sermon was preached by Hennepin, both the Fathers, Grar- 
nier and Eaffeix, being present. The council was convened 
the following day, composed of forty-two sachems ; " and 



' The predecessor of Prontenac as Governor of New France. 

2 For a fall account of this enterprise and the subsequent fortunes of the vessel, see 
The Building and Voyage of the Griffon in 1679, by O. H. Marshall. 

3 Shea's Hennepin, Description of Louisiana, pp. 75-81. 



76 

although these Indians, (sa^^s Hennepin), who are almost all 
large nnen, were merely wrapped in robes of beaver or wolf 
skins, and some in black squirrel skins, often with a pipe in 
the mouth, no Senator of Venice ever assumed a graver 
countenance or spoke with more weight than the Iroquois 
sachems in their assemblies." After the interpreter had 
explained the object of this visit, stating "that the Sieur de 
la Salle, their friend, was going to build a great wooden 
canoe to go and seek goods in Europe, by a shorter way than 
that by the rapids of the St. Lawrence, in order to supply 
them with the same at a cheaper rate," witli other reasons, 
the customary presents were distributed in behalf of the 
French nation, consisting of goods to the value of four hun- 
dred livres. But before his speech, Sieur de la Motte 
demanded the withdrawal from the council, of the Jesuit 
Garnier, of whom he was suspicious ; and Hennepin,' mor- 



1 Father Louis Hennepin was born at Ath, in Hainhut. He entered the order of St. 
Francis as a novice in the Recollect convent at Bethune in the province of Artois. He 
arrived in Canada in September 1675, on the same vessel with Eobert Cavelier, Sieur de 
la Salle to whom Louis XIV had granted letters of nobility and the seigniory of Fort 
Frontenac, a short time previous. He journeyed as a missionary to different points, 
and from Fort Frontenac with a single companion made a journey on snow-shoes to the 
country of the Iroquois, visiting the Onondagas, Oneida and Mohawlc cantons, at the 
latter, meeting Father Bruyas, and making a copy of hia Jlacines Agnieres, after which 
lie returned to Fort Frontenac and built a mission house in which Iroquois and French 
children were associated together in a school. In 1G78 he was one of the number 
selected to accompany La Salle in his fourth voyage of discovery to the south-west of 
the great lakes. The party left Fort Frontenac in November, and after coasting 
along the northern shore of Lake Ontario reached Teiaiagon at the head of the lake. 
On the 6th of December they reached the mouth of the Niagara river which no barque 
had ever yet entered. The nest day explorations were made to find a suitable place to 
construct a vessel above the falls, which resulted in selecting a point on Cayuga creek 
near the present hamlet of La Salle. While the workmen were engaged in the con- 
struction of this, the first vessel to navigate the upper lakes, he accompanied Sieur de 
la Motte on a five days' winter journey through the forest to the great village Sonou- 
touan, of the Senecas, of which Tegaronhies was chief sachem, and hence, sometimes 
called Tegaronhies town. This was then located on the west side of Honeoye creek, a 
mile and u half N. N. W. of Honeoye Falls. Father Julian Garnier was then in charge 
of the .Mission at this village, and Sieur de la Motte refused to deliver his message to 
the council in his presence, for which reason Garnier withdrew accompanied by Henne- 
pin, both highly offended. The vessel, named the Griffon, was launched early in the 
spring, loaded with a forge, ship carpenter's tools and the iron work for a vessel to be 



77 

tified fit the affront given to the missionary ot the village, 
withdrew with him and took no farther part, for that day, in 
the proceedings. The next day the Senecas replied to the 
presents, article by article, expressing their satisfaction and 
their thanks. On the last day of the council, a band of 
Seneca warriors brought in a " Ilontouagaha'" captive and 
after subjecting him to the customary tortures, allowed the 
chiklren to cut bits of flesh from the dead body, and eat them. 
Disgusted with the whole scene, de La Motte and his com- 
panions withdrew from the chief's cabin and without delay 
retraced their steps through the forests to the Niagara River. 
In the meanwhile the work of the missionaries, now rein- 
forced by the arrival of Father John Pierron from the Mo- 
hawk, was contested at every step, especially by the med- 
icine men, who were ever using their influence with the 
people, for the persecution of the mi<sionaries. "Garnier 
was accused of sorcery, and as accusation and condemnation 
were nearly synonymous, the}^ determined to tomahawk him. 
The executioner was named and paid ; but God averted the 



built ou the banks of the Illinois river, and started on its perilous voyage Auirust 7, 
1679. Coasting along the north shore of Lake Erie, through lakes St. Clair and Huron, 
they reached St. Ignace of Michillimacinac, and afterward an island at the entrance of 
Green Bay, where the cargo was unloaded and transferred to small boats, and the vessels 
reloaded with furs and sent back to Niagara. They reached the southern extremity of 
Lake Michigan October 2Sth, from which two routes led to the Illinois ; one followed 
by Marquette and Joliet on their return by way of Desplaines and Chicago rivers ; the 
other by way of St. Joseph's on the east side of the lake, to present South Bend, and 
thence by a short portage to the Kankakee and down it to the Illinois. La Salle chose 
the latter and constructed at the mouth of St. Joseph's a fort named the Fort of Mia- 
mis. On the 3d of December they ascended the St. Joseph's to the portage, and thence 
descended the Kankakee and Illinois to present Peoria, where a second fort was com- 
menced under the significant name of Fort Crevecoenr or the Broken Heart, for this 
apparently marked the extreme western limit of La Salle's third attempt and third fail- 
ure to reach the great Mississippi. Here the keei was laid of a barque, in which it was 
proposed to descend the Mississippi From here, with two companions, Michael 
Accault and Anthony Auguelle, Hennepin, on February 29th, was sent to explore the 
upper Mississippi, and lay the foundation for missions among the unknown tribes. 
They descended the Illinois to the Mississippi and thence ascending the latter through 
the drifting Ice, were on the 11th of April 1680, captured by a party of 120 Sioux who 
were descending the river to make war on the Miami's, Illinois and Tamaroas.— J. S. C. 



78 

blow. Raffeix sought to lead a dying girl to the truth, but 
such was the hatred then prevailing against the missionaries, 
that she sprang from the sick couch and tore his face with 
her nails, till he streamed with blood. He did not however, 
despair ; continuing his visits, his kind and gentle manners 
disabused her. She listened, was convinced, and to his con- 
solation died piously uttering a prayer to Jesus the Giver of 
life.'" 



1 Sliea'8 Catholic Missions, 292-3. 



VIII. 



Tliis chapter will conclude the history of the Seneca Mis- 
sions ; and comprises all that may be gathered from Rela- 
tion 1678-9.' 

Father Raffeix writes from Sonnontouan in these terms : 
" We endeavor to let no children die without baptism. I have 
conferred it on many this year, 1675, several of whom died, 
after receiving it. As they are our surest gain, they form 
our greatest consolation, and we watch over them with 
special care, and God very often in regard to these innocent 
little ones discovers the treasures of his special Providence. 
Frequently mothei's who had no inclination for the faith have 
come to me to restore to health their dying children, who 
expired after I had given tlieni spiritual health by baptism, 
instead of the bodily health they had brought me to confer. 

I had for six months been watching a sickly little child. 
Our fear of making apostates, in case they recover from dis- 
ease, makes us wait to the last, till dangei" of death, Satan 
envious of the glory which this child will render to God for 
all eternity in heaven, it was carried away to a cabin remote 
from the village, and deep in the woods. 

Besides this I learned that it was dying. One day as I 
was ready to say mass, I was told that some were going to 
that cabin. I had begged them to let me know when any 
one was going. I left the village with those who set out to 
go there, and I ascertained the road tliey took. After mass 

1 The several translations contained in this chapter were made by Dr. John Gilmary 
Shea, for the present work. 



80 

I started. The child's guardian angel made me find people 
at every fork of the road. But I should never have got 
there, had not three young children, who had come from the 
place whither I was going, and who were on their way home, 
changed their mind. They turned back with me, but scam- 
pered around in the woods so that I lost sight of them. T 
overtook them at last and reached the cabin, but found neither 
the mother nor the dying child there, although the three 
children had left them there shortly before. T sent three 
times to call the mother from a neighboring field to which 
she was in the habit of going. Three times, too, I went there 
myself, and as I was returning the last time she entered the 
cabin with her child from another direction. I remained 
some time with it while she went to fetch water, which I used 
to baptize the child, which died soon after. 

You see how a missionary should not spare himself, but 
if he has not great tact, he will lose many opportunities of 
acting for the salvation of the children." 

" Last year they baptized 350 Iroquois. The year before 
Father Garnier baptized 55 in one of the Seneca towns, and 
Father Pierron 90 at Sonnontouan.'' 

EELATION 1673-4, CHAP. V. MISSIONS OF ST. MICHAEL AND 
ST. JAMES AMONG THE SENECAS. 

If the Indians of the town of St. Michael were as well 
weaned from the superstitions of the country as they have 
hitherto preserved themselves from the vice of drunkenness, 
there would be no difficulty in making them genuine Chris- 
tians. Most of them solicit baptism from Father Garnier, 
who is obliged to refuse them, because they will not renounce 
certain dances and other superstitious ceremonies, which they 
employ as remedies in sickness. Two things render their 
attachments to this kind of folly more difficult to break. 



81 

The first is the false liope of recovering their liealth bj this 
means. The second is the profit which many derive from 
them. This has not prevented two of the poorest famihes in 
the town from setting an example of courage and tidelitj to 
God, all the more admirable, inasmuch as by abandoning the 
practice of these superstitions, they deprived themselves of 
the only stay left them to relieve tlieir poverty and extreme 
want. We often see in these poor savages, similar effects of 
a powerful grace, an evident testimony of heroic virtue. 

A Huron woman, who had long been a Christian, after 
having lived in great innocence, combined with much deli- 
cacy of conscience, feeling herself attacked by a severe dis- 
ease, summoned the Father at once, to assure him, in the 
presence of all her kindred, that she wished to die as she had 
lived, renouncing everything at variance witli her profession 
of Christianity. As she soon saw herself beset by the 
medicine men and soothsayers of the country, w^ho urged her 
to permit them at least to tell her the cause of her death, she 
left her cabin to be rid of their importunity, and dying as 
she was, had herself carried to the middle of the fields. 
Thence she sent to ask the Father to come and suggest to 
her some pious prayei-s. This noble act merited her obtain- 
ing, as a reward in this life, the conversion of her husband. 
While she lived he would never listen to anything in regard to 
his being baptized ; but as soon as she was dead, he was the 
first to ask this favor, with great earnestness. Thus does God 
display in these far countries, as well as elsewhere, that he is 
the Master of hearts, to touch and attract them efficaciously, 
at the time and in the manner that he pleases. lie seems to 
expect some at the hour of death, and employs bodily ail- 
ment to restore health to the soul, as lie did in the case of a 
young woman, the infection exhaling from whose body had 
made them turn out of several cabins, although the Indians 
are far from nice in such matters. The missionarv was still 



82 

less^ so, and this infectious odor did not prevent bis assiduous 
visits to instruct her. He found her very well disposed by 
the bvely apprehension of the sufferings of a future hfe, and 
by deep sorrow for having indulged in a life of sin The 
Father deemed it expedient to grant her the grace of bap- 
tism, and he had reason for prompt action, for the sacrament 
was immediately followed by death. 

There are others whom Grod converts by the ministry and 
exhortations of those who resist conversion themselves. An 
Indian of the town of the Conception has already obtained 
the salvation of several of his relatives, but has been unwill- 
ing to labor for his own salvation. He is a man of very 
good sense, who has always taken pleasure in the instruction 
of the missionaries. As he has much intellect, he is well 
versed in the mysteries of our religion; he calls himself a 
Christian by choice, although his life has hitherto rendered 
him unworthy of baptism. When he learns that any of his 
relatives or friends is dangerously ill, he goes and instructs 
him, and to be more easily believed by the patient, he assures 
him that he has long examined what the Black Gowns say, 
and that after all his examination, he could find nothing that 
did not conform to the truth ; that moreover he is persuad- 
ing them only to do what he intends to do himself; and he 
intends really to solicit baptism when he sees he is going to 
die. He says these things so appositely and skillfully, that 
scarcely one fails to be convinced, or be perfectly prepared 
by him to receive that sacrament. He did this recently so 
happily in the case of one of his nephews, that Father Gar- 
nier was delighted at the fervor with which this young man 
solicited baptism, and the rare dispositions with which he 
received it. 

But of all the means which God employs most in these 
three towns of St. Michael, St. James and the Conception, 
which belong to the nation of the Senecas, that which most 



83 

efficaciously converts the Indians, is misery and being aban- 
doned by all creatures. None are better disposed to hear 
instructions or more prompt in obe3nng the movements of 
grace, than the poor slaves or other persons destitute of all 
succor, and forsaken b}'' all the world. These give the mis- 
sionary the greatest consolation, and amid their temporal 
miseries, they more voluntarily receive the good tidings of 
their eternal happiness. The Father has baptized this year 
some of this class, and they all live as true Christians. He 
might have expected the same success with many others, if 
he had had time enough to continue to instruct them, and 
at the same time attend the sick who have been very num- 
erous, and many of whom died after receiving baptism. 

MISSION OF THE CONCEPTION AT SONNONTOUAN. 

Father Raffeix, who has charge of this mission writes as 
follows : " The great number of superstitions, which have 
gathered here with these tribes, which have taken refuge here 
after the destruction of their own country, raises up a very 
notable obstacle to the propagation of the gospel. The 
remoteness of the French, whose settlements the Senecas 
rarely visit, makes the teaching of our Faith seem strange to 
them, because they have never seen any one believe and 
practice it. Moreover libertinage and moral corruption which 
makes them publicly approve and praise all vices, do much 
to induce them to live like beasts, and make them insensible 
to all that concerns salvation. Not but that a very good 
natural disposition is observable in many, and that most of 
them are much less subject to their passions than Europeans. 
But where corrupt nature rules, men give way to bad exam- 
ple, and these rich natures which will one day do wonders, 
when virtue controls them, arfe as yet too weak to resist 
human respect. Few adults would die without receiving 



84 

baptism, if we could find them alone to instruct them ; but 
the shame of passing for Christians in the eyes of those who 
are not, is a great obstacle to their conversion. And for this 
reason I have been unable this year to baptize more than ten 
adults, who all died after receiving that blessing. Many of 
those who pray to God when they are alone in the chapel, 
would be ashamed to do so before those who do not pray. 
A young woman took poison in consequence of some griev- 
ous displeasure slie had received. I went to see her in her 
cabin several times to speak to her of her salvation. Human 
respect sealed her lips. From time to time I took her reme- 
dies and some delicacies, that she might relish more easily 
what I said of God, and of the eternal happiness or misery 
of her soul. As long as her husband or mother was near 
her, she would not speak at all. I saw clearly that I must 
find her alone, and that very soon, for she was near her end. 
I went there sometimes so early or so late that I lost my way 
in the fields as I returned. At last one day when her hus- 
band was away, and her mother went for water, she opened 
her heart to me, praying to God with much fervor to pardon 
her sins. She then listened very voluntarily to the instruc- 
tions I gave her, and prepared to receive baptism. All, it is 
true, are not so completely slaves of human respect. One of 
the sachems of the town called me to sa}- : '' Here are my 
niece and grand-daughter, who can do no more, they have 
lingered long. Tell them clearly, all about the prayer, so as 
to prepare them as well as you can to become Christians." 

I should regret it deeply, if this old man, who is not yet 
baptized, should himself lose the grace, which two of his 
daughters, his niece and grand niece have i-eceived this year ; 
and which, we have grounds to believe, they carried unsul- 
lied to heaven, for they died soon after ba[)tis!n. 

Traveling (Mie day with a man who was returning from a 
war party, as I conversed with him on religion and the mys- 



85 

teries of faith, he related to me that one of the chiefs of 
their army, holding council near the enemy's country, had 
said that they must go fearlessly into action. " For my part," 
he continued, "I am far from entertaining any fear; for I 
know that nothing happens to us, except by the permission 
of him who is in heaven, whom I adore and whom I invoke 
since I embraced Christianity." Would that all possessed 
the same courage, and could rise above human respect. 

I cannot express the pleasure which I felt on hearing an 
old man who had been a Christian for several years, and who 
does not belong in the country. "Ah," he said, "When 
will it be my happiness to remove to the country of Faith, 
among the French, and live no longer where God is not 
known and where he is so often offended ? How happy should 
I live and die among my brethren, the Christians of Quebec 
or of la Prairie la Magdelaine ? If I and my family do not 
soon leave this country, my son, my grand-daughter and my 
wife will be exposed to lose the faith amid this infidelity, 
and debauchery, whereas if the}' lived among Christians, 
they would be saved by following their good example." He 
has accordingly resolved, cost what it will, to set out a month 
hence to reside at Quebec. He will not accomplish it with- 
out great toil and difficulty. God has his predestined every- 
where ; but this good grain is still very rare in this country. 
It will be for fervent and zealous missionaries, who come 
here often to cultivate this ungrateful and sterile land, to 
make the seed yield a hundred fold. 

Of the number of these predestined, are especially the 
little children, whom we endeavor never to allow to die un- 
baptized. I have conferred it on a great number this year. 
Fourteen of them died after receiving it. As they are our 
surest gain, they are also our greatest consolation. 

The following extracts embrace all that is contained in the 
Relations concern ino; the Seneca Missions from 1673 to 1679 : 



86 

RELATION 1674. 

" If Father Carheil does not sanctify himself as much as 
he desires, it is certain that he does so, as do Fathers Garnier 
and Eaffeix in the towns of Seneca, which are the most 
remote from lis, and also apparently from the Faith. How- 
ever these two brave missionaries make many conquests 
from the enemy. Father Pierron has gone to join them to 
take care of a large town, which we have not been able 
hitherto to provide." 

RELATION 1675, MISSION AMONG THE IROQUOIS, CALLED 
SONNONTOUANS. 

Fathers Pierron, Eaffeix and Garnier, who labor in three 
different towns, are, so to say, obliged to carry their lives in 
their hands at all times, for they are in almost habitual dan- 
ger of being massacred by those savages. 

In fact, since the Senecas entirely defeated the Andas- 
togues, who were their ancient and most formidable enemies, 
their insolence knows no bounds. They talk only of renew- 
ing the war against our allies, and even against the French, 
and beginning by the destruction of Fort Catarokoui. They 
not long since resolved to tomahawk Father Garnier, treat- 
ing him as a sorcerer. They had not only selected, but 
even paid the man who was to strike the blow, and we 
should no longer possess this missionary had not God pre- 
served him by a most singular Providence. All these insults 
do not prevent the Fathers from performing their functions 
boldlv, giving instruction in their cabin and chapels, where 
they have baptized more than a hundred persons within a 
year, and they find that fifty, children and adults, die every 
year, after baptism. However, if these savages take up arms 
against us, as they threaten, our missions are in great dan- 
ger, either of being ruined or at least interrupted, as long as 
the war lasts. 



87 

RELATION 1676-7. 

The upper Iroquois, that is to say, those whose lands are 

most remote from the French settlements, especially the 

Senecas and Cayugas, are the most haughty and insolent of 

all. They go so far as to pursue the missionaries tomahawk 

in hand, pelt them with stones, demolish their chapels and 

their little cabins, heaping on them a thousand other kinds 

of gross ill treatment. 

* -X- * * * * -:<- * w 

I can draw nothing else from the letters of Fathers de 
Carheil, Pierron, Raifeix and Garnier, who are among the 
upper Iroquois ; their greatest and almost sole occupation is 
to suffer, and so to say, die each moment, under the blow of 
continual threats and insults which these savages necessarily 
breathe against them. In spite of all this, they have not 
neglected to wrest many souls from hell. For his part, 
Father Pierron has baptized since a year ago, ninety of these 
Indians, almost all children, of whom fifty died after baptism. 

In one town of the Senecas, where Father Garnier is, there 
have died within a year forty children and forty adults, bap- 
tized. As for Father Eaffeix, who is in another town of the 
Senecas, he reports that he profited well by a pulmonary 
disorder with which God has chastised these savage inhabi- 
tants, and which carried off in a month sixty small children. 
"I have not spared myself in order to be able to obtain the 
grace of baptism for them, as well as for those adults whom 
God made known to be His in the course of this fatal 
malady." 

RELATION 1677-8. 

Further on, Fathers Raffeix and Garnier, who are at Son- 
nontouan, and. where the danger is greatest (because it is the 
nation which more especially desires war) have conferred 



88 

during this year baptism on two hundred and twelve, among 
whom there are more than seventy cliildren, a part of whom 
have gone to increase the cliurch triumphant." 



Father Pierron' evidently was recalled in 1677, and Father 
Raffeix- some years later, leaving Father Julian Gamier 
alone. DeMeules, writing to Siegnlay, July 8, 1684, says : 
" Father Garnier, a Jesuit, who was a missionary to the said 

1 Father John Pierron came to Canada June 27th, 1667, from the Province of Cham- 
pagne, France. In 1668 when Father Fremin was sent to the Senecas, he was succeeded 
in the Mohawlc canton by Father Pierron. In 1670, while in attendance at a council, a 
chief commanded him to leave, wishina; to be free to perform some superstitious cere- 
mony, which he knew the missionary would not approve. Pierron thought it expedient 
to show his displeasure ; he even declared that he could no longer continue in a place 
where they did not hesitate to insult him, and would present the matter of his treat- 
ment to Onnontio. The same day the chiefs made public apologies for having insulted 
him, which the missionary accepted graciously, but expressed his regret at the indispo- 
sition shown to accept the great truths which he had announced to them, and added 
that he could no longer tolerate so many odd customs, nor their attachment to fables, 
the absurdity of which he had so often shown them ; that since be was losing his time 
speaking to a people that would not hearken either to the voice of Heaven or that of 
reason, he considered it his duty to bear to other parts the word of God. This gave 
rise to much discussion and at the next grand council it was determined that thence- 
forward, no public invocation to Agreskoue would be permitted, or even a recognition 
as the Author of Life ; that medicine men should not be called to see the sick ; and 
that superstitious and indecent dances should be abolished. Garacontie, the Onondaga, 
rendered efficient aid in securing this result. In 1674 Pierron wintered in Acadia to 
attend the French on the coast, aad examine as to the possibility of establishing Indian 
JTissions tliere. He also in disguise traversed the English colonies from New England 
to Virginia and visited the Jesuit Fathers in Maryland. In 1673 he was sent to Ganda- 
garo of the Senecas and remained there until 1G77. He returned to Europe in 1678. See 
Charlevoix 111, 163 and Kelation 1671, pp. 5, C.— J. S. C. 

Father Peter Kaffhix arrived in ill health in Canada in 1063, (Sept. 23.) He was 
chaplain of the expedition of Courcelles and Tracy against the Mohawks in 1605 ; was 
appointed missionary to the Cayugas in 1666. In the following year he was at Isle 
Percee, and, after fouudmg La prairie, labored among the Cayugas and Senecas till 
1680. He died at Quebec in 17:i3, broken down with years and toil. 

3 Father Julian Garnier, was born at Conneral in the diocese of Mans, about 1643, 
and was a brother of the celebrated Benedictine Garnier. He came to Canada, while 
still a scholastic, in October 1662, and, after teaching some years, completed his studies, 
and was ordained in April, 1666. After passing with success his final examinatiou in 
1668, he was sent to the Iroquois missions, and labored at Oneida, Onondaga and Sen- 
eca. He probably returned as late as 1702 and died at Quebec in February, 1730. He 
was also apparently employed on the Algonquin Missions. Lafitau, who derived from 
him much of the matter of his work, speaks highly of his zeal and austerity. 



89 

Senecas, after being informed secretly of intention to make 
war, escaped in the said barque (one built by the Governor 
to trade on Lake Ontario), which was anchored in a little 
river seven leagues from their village, and where all the Iro- 
quois used to come to trade." — [N. Y. Col. Doc. IX. p. 229.] 
In November 1702, Mr. De Callieres announced that Father 
Gamier and Father A^aillant' had gone to the Senecas, ac- 
companied by Captain De Maricourt, and some French men 
to arrange their establishment. — [ib. p. 737.] Garnier and- 
Vaillant must have left soon after, as Garnier was sent back 
in 1703, (ib. 750 ;) and Vaillant in 1704, (ib. p. 762.) There 
was a missionary as late as 1706, (ib. p. 775.) 

1 Father Francis Vaillant de Gueslis, came to Canada as a student in 1670, re- 
ceived holy orders at Quebec, December 1st, 1675, according to the Lisle Chronologique 
and replaced Father Bruyas as Missionary at Tionnontoguen near present Cauajoharie, 
in 1679. He was resident among the Mohawks in 1683, and accompanied Denonville'a 
expedition against the Senecas in 1687, and in the beginning of 16S8 visited Albany as 
Ambassador to Governor Dongan on the part of the Canadian Government, on which 
occasion he acquitted himself with ability. — Neiv York Coimcil Minutes, V. 211. At the 
conclusion of this negotiation he proceeded to Cataracouy, (present Kingston) escorted 
by two Indians, who were sent by Governor Dongan to prevent him having any inter- 
course with the Mohawks, his former flock. The breaking out of King William's war 
and the abandonment of Fort Cataracouy, drove him back to Canada, but after the 
peace he was sent in 1702-.3 with Father Garnier on a mission to the Senecas, by whom 
he was deputed in 1704 to Governor Vaudreuil to demand satisfaction for a violation of 
the Treaty on the part of the Ottawas. He returned immediately to the Senecas and 
contributed to thwart the efforts of Col. Schuyler at Onondaga who sought to prevail 
on the Five Nations to expel the French missionaries.— Charlevoix II, 292-4. Father 
Vaillant was succeeded in 1707 in the Seneca Mission by the Rev. Father d Heu, and 
returned to France in 1715.— O'Callaghan, N. Y., Col. History IX, 762. 



SIXTH ANNUAL ADDRESS 
BY THE PRESIDENT, 

February 13, 1883. 



ADDEESS. 



In selecting a suitable topic for the address expected of 
me on this occasion, I have sought after the old rather than 
the new ; and shall say nothing, perhaps, not already familiar 
to you, at least not easily accessible to the ordinary historical 
student. My object will be to deal with Indian life, domes- 
tic and social, as known more particularly among the Iro- 
quois ; and in continuance of the topic of my last annual 
address, which was of the origin and characteristic features 
*of their tribal government. The subject is attractive, and has 
long been a favorite one witli writers both of romance and of 
history. Indian life in its native freedom and wild habit, 
has all the charm with which the poet and the novelist have 
sought to invest it, while in the soberer view of the historian 
it is not without its lessons of permanent value. 

This primitive life, however, has of late come to be studied 
in its scientific aspects ; and the Indian is scarcely a less 
conspicuous figure in the speculations of ethnography than 
he was wont to be in the ideal conceptions of poetry and 
romance. It is now the critical student that is found sit- 
ting at the feet of the red man, seeking light on some of 
the graver problems of our time. He also has acted his 
part in the story of man upon the earth. The principle of 
intelligence which belongs to the human being, with its am- 
bitions and its rivalries, has found here, as in all parts of the 
globe, its sphere of operation as uniform and as character- 
istic of our common humanity in its prehistoric periods, as 
now. Hence the interest we have in habits and modes of 



94 

life peculiar to peoples that have flourished and passed away. 
And what is still more to our purpose, hence also, the prac- 
tical philosophy, which grounded in the unity of mankind, 
holds true, far back as research may take us into primitive 
and archaic life, since we never get beyond the sources of a 
present civilization and never below the roots of all its blos- 
soming. 

It will be enough for my purpose to consider Indian life 
among the best known of our aboriginal tribes, and trace so 
far as we may be able, the connections between their social 
and civil institutions. 

Here then was a people who in the classification of ancient 
society had not emerged from the lower status of barbarism ; 
without the knowledge of the useful metals ; content with 
implements and weapons characteristic of the Stone Age ; 
without flocks or herds ; living in bark houses ; subsisting 
upon the products of the chase and a limited agriculture, and 
without distinctly defined ideas of personal property, but 
with the virtue and sagacity to frame a government, which 
had already stood in its republican simplicity, with no sign 
of decay or weakness, for two hundred years, when the Pil- 
grims landed at Plymouth. And yet it has taken scarcely a 
hundred years to obliterate all traces of their occupation of 
this region, so long their iiome and the seat of their power, 
except as the plough turns up some rude stone implement or 
a skeleton is laid bare in its unmarked grave. The articles 
of manufacture and ornament which would best represent 
their taste and skill or reveal the more kindly and delicate 
features of their home life, have, in the lapse of time, per- 
ished. It would be the same with the fairest rural village in 
Cayuga county, left of its inhabitants to the wasting influ- 
.ences of a like period. Little would remain, to tell of its 
family life or its characteristic industries. Only the coarser 
articles would survive to reward the curiosity of the antiqua- 



95 

rian, while the things that fill a home with comfort and at- 
tractiveness, would have vanished. If we knew no more of 
this aboriginal population than what time has spared, since 
their towns were burned and thej were driven from the soil, 
our opinion of them would be as crude as it was unjust. 

But as it is, we can re-people to the mind's eye these ancient 
sites of our American Stone Age ; and reconstruct its vil- 
lages, in the architecture and the order of their dwellings, 
with their peculiar social economies, modes of industry, 
sources of enjoyment, and characteristic conditions which 
made up their ordinary life. It is possible to draw the pic- 
ture of an Indian home, with its family habit, the relations 
of the several members of the household to each other, its 
domestic nurture and virtues, without a touch of fancy or the 
faintest coloring of romance. Besides their own traditions, 
the more carefully preserved in the absence of a written lan- 
guage, we have ample testimony from iutelligent and candid 
historical sources, attributing to them a character free not 
only from many of the vices that corrupt social life, but 
compact and strong in those native virtues which society is 
ever in danger of repudiating, and without which it falls to 
pieces. 

This Indian life, we are to remember, followed the law after 
which society in its primitive forms, came to exist, and was 
as complete an expression of that law as any age or people 
has furnished. It adhered all through its social and political 
relationsto the principle of kinship. The ^^ens of the ancient 
Greeks and Komans, the kin as fixed in the maternal line, 
corresponds with the Indian clan. In civilization, with its 
multiplied interests and broader necessities, kinship gives 
place to citizenship. Greek and Eoman society underwent 
this change. But citizenship was unknown among the Iro- 
quois. The clan, composed of related families, with a com- 
mon name and symbol, was the unit of their social and 



96 

political life. Thus all rights and privileges within the clan 
were distinctly defined and scrupulously observed. Tt shaped 
social custom, and stamped the habit and whole character of 
the people. Intermarriage within the same clan was forbid- 
den. The husband became of the clan of his wife, which 
was according to the primal law of marriage as ordained in 
Eden, as Adam first looked upon Eve and called her woman: 
" Therefore shall a man forsake his father an,d his mother 
and shall cleave unto his wife." It removed marriage beyond 
the option of the .parties. So grave a step could only be 
taken under the watchful eye of the inothers, when the par- 
ties were brought together, as were Isaac and Rebecca, in 
patriarchal times, and never thought of objecting to what 
had been done for them, as filial obedience was a paramount 
duty in an Indian home. It was, moreover, a necessity of 
Indian society which could not have been maintained with 
marriage as the result of mutual fancy or the passion of love 
as it might chance to spring up between two young lives. 
To have given it the freedom allowed in civilized usage, 
would have been to break up the structural basis of their 
social and tribal life. 

The position accorded to their women by the Iroquois was 
one of singular influence. They were supreme in the 
household, not only for the necessities of which they did so 
much to provide, and in the care of the children for whose 
custody and nurture they were wholly responsible, but also 
in political affairs their opinions were held in greatest respect 
by sachems and warriors. Each clan elected its chief ; but 
the power to nominate rested with the women, and their 
approval was necessary to the validity of the choice. This 
again was vital to the preservation of the clan in its integrity. 
The sachemship, partly hereditary and partly elective, fol- 
lowed the maternal line. Hence the son of a sachem could 
in no instance succeed his father in any official right or title, 



97 

because he was of his mother's clan. At the death of a 
sachem, the matron of the household to which he belonged, 
after due consultation with her own clan, selected as his suc- 
cessor, the one who seemed best qualified for the position, 
without regard to age or priority of birth. Moreover, each 
clan in a tribe was entitled to an assistant sachem, constitut- 
ing a body, whose consent was necessary to public acts, and 
whose particular duty it was to protect the common treas- 
ury; and as in the case of a sachem he also was chosen by 
the women. There was also a class of officers entitled Keep- 
ers of the Faith, who had charge of the annual festivals, 
delivered religious discourses, and exercised a supervision 
over the morals of the people. Their functions were some- 
what of the nature of a priesthood in which the women 
shared in numbers and authority, equally with the men. 
Indeed, in the transaction of all public business, the voice 
of the women was prominent and efTecti.ve. They met in 
council by themselves, and made known to the chiefs the 
result of their deliberations, through their appointed repre- 
sentative, whose duty it was to advocate their views irrespec- 
tive of his own opinions. 

But in no regard, perhaps, were the women more tenacious 
of their rights, than in treaty stipulations for the alienation 
of lands, in which their consent was an essential condition. 
From time immemorial they were the acknowledged owners 
of the soil, for the reason that they cultivated it and hus- 
banded its products. As an Oneida chief, speaking for the 
them in a council lield at Albany as late as 1789, to protect 
the Iroquois from any further dispossession of their lands, 
said : " Our ancestors considered it a great transgression to 
reject the counsel of their women. Our ancestors considered 
them the mistresses of the soil. Our ancestors said, Who 
bring us forth ? Who cultivate our lands ? Who kindle our 
fires ? Who boil our pots, but the women ? The women say 



98 

let not the tradition of the fathers with respect to the women 
be disregarded. Let them not be despised. * * * The 
female governesses beg leave to speak with that freedom 
allowed to women and agreeable to the spirit of our ances- 
tors. They exhort the great chief to put forth his strength 
to preserve their peace, for they are the life of the nation." 
This is only one of many instances that could be cited of 
similiar import, showing the respect and dignity accorded to 
woman by a people, as estimated by social science, still in 
the lower status of barbarism. 

The story of Pocahontas in the rescue of Capt. Smith, at 
the hazard of her life in the early days of Virginia, is well 
known. A similar incident occurred among the Oneidas, 
a hundred years ago. One of their tribe had been mur- 
dered by a white man, who had made his escape. The 
Indian law of atonement required the sacrifice in this in- 
stance of a white man, and after deliberating the matter in 
secret council, it was decided that the most suitable person 
as the victim, in consideration of his high position among 
white men, was James Dean,' though in his boyhood he had 
been adopted in the family of a chief. The decision was not 
reached until after scvei'al days of deliberation, and much 
opposition ; and as a secret was disclosed to Mr. Dean by a 
friendly sachem. He kept the matter to himself, when one 
night after he had retired, he was aroused by the sound of 
the death whoop at a short distance from his house. He 
knew well what tliat meant, and for the first, made known his 
fears to his wife, but enjoined her to remain quiet in the room 
with the children asleep. He calmly met the Indians at the 
door and seated them in an adjoining room. They numbered 
eighteen, and all chiefs or head men of the tribe. The prin- 
cipal sachem informed him that they had come to take his 



1 Judge Dean was one of the most prominent men ia the early history of Oneida 
County not only, but of Western New York. 



99 

life for that of their murdered tribesman and that he must 
prepare to die. He rephed showing how unjust it was, he 
being an adopted son of the Oneidas, to require his blood in 
reparation for a wrong done by a white man, and concluded 
with a manly appeal for the sake of his wife and children. 
They listened with grave attention, and as he sat down one 
of the chiefs made replay. He rejoined and the debate lasted 
into the night, without change of mind in the council, when, 
as he was about to submit to his doom as inevitable, the 
sound of a footstep came from outside. All eyes were fixed 
upon the door and as it opened an Indian woman entered, 
the wife of the senior chief and the foster-mother of Mr. 
Dean at the time of his adoption into the tribe. She took 
her place at the door and looked on in silence. A moment 
after another woman entered, and she also the wife of a chief 
who was present. Soon still another came in ; each stood 
wrapped closely in her blanket, but said nothing. At length 
the presiding chief bid them withdraw and leave the council 
to go on with its business. The wife replied that the council 
must change its determination, and let the white man, their 
friend and her adopted son, alone. The order was repeated 
to be gone, when each of the women threw off her blanket 
and showed a knife in her extended hand declaring that if 
one hair of the white man's head was touched, they would 
each bury their knives in their heart's blood. The council 
was struck with awe and regarding the whole scene as an in- 
timation of the will of the Great Spirit, the decree was 
reversed on the spot and the life of their victim saved.' 

I have been able only to select here and there among the 
mass of testimony, from authentic sources, to illustrate the 
place of woman in Indian society. She was far from being 
the servile drudge, which she is commonly represented to 



1 See Notices of Men and Events connected with the Early History of Oneida County, 
by William Tracy. Utica, N. Y., 1838. 



100 

have been ; bnt in the fair distribution of duties, incident to 
this primitive life, only took her proper share. Compared 
with the labors which devolved upon the wives and daughters 
of the early settlers of the country, she had the easiei' lot, 
while her influence in many respects was more potential. 
Speaking of the Iroquois, the Jesuit missionary Lafitau, with 
large opportunities of observation and study of aboriginal life, 
says : " There is nothing more real than this superiority of 
the women. It is they who constitute the tribe, keep up the 
genealogical tree and the order of inheritance, and perpetuate 
the family. They possess all real authority ; own the land 
and the fields and their harvests ; they are the soul of all 
councils, the arbiters of peace and war ; they have care of 
the public treasury ; slaves are given to them ; tliey arrange 
marriages; the children belong to them and to their blood is 
confined the line of descent and the order of inheritance. 
The men, on the other hand, are wholly isolated and restricted 
to their personal affairs ; their children are strangers to them 
and when they die everything comes to an end, as it is only 
the women who can keep up and perpetuate the family. If 
there are only men in a household, no matter in what num- 
bers nor how many children they may have, it is doomed, 
and although by courtesy they are made chiefs, and public 
business is transacted by a council of old men, yet they act 
merely as the representative of the woman to aid her in those 
affairs in which it would not be becoming for her to appear 
and act for herself."^ 

The clan then is the key to Indian life. It conserved all 
rights and constituted a kind of home government for all 
local interests. Besides, it gathered to itself the associations 
and memories which give sacredness and value to human 
life, with its special religious observances and separate burial 



1 Moeurs des Savages Ameriquains, Vol. I. pp. 71, 72 : Paris 1724. 



101 

place. It was the most natural and the freest form of society 
possible among men. It promoted liberty while it secured 
personal rights. Based upon lineage sedulously guarded, with 
pride of ancestral name and deeds, its whole influence was to 
foster that self-possessed independence and dignity which 
have always marked the Indian character. 

Between the clan and the tribe was the brotherhood, com- 
posed of two or more clans, but with no official head and no 
functions of government. It served, however, in useful ways 
to harmonize disputes and cement the social bond. In the 
sports and games which entered largely into Indian life, the 
match was between chosen players from two of the brother- 
hoods, not unlike a modern base ball game or an university 
boat race. At the funei'als of prominent persons, the cere- 
monies were conducted by members of another brotherhood, 
than that to which the deceased belonged, while they of his 
own brotherhood acted, in a body, as mourners.' 

But not to dwell longer upon these distinctive features of 
Iroquois society, it is enough to say, that by such affinities 
were the several tribes held in union and blended in their 
political league, which rested in the faith of kindred and was 
capable of indefinite expansion. Unity would keep pace 
with enlargement, and widely as their council fires might be 
kindled, one sentiment would rule their deliberations and 
one spirit animate the entire political household. 

It has been observed more especially of Iroquois life, that 
it was largely communistic. They not only lived in compact 
villages, but their homes were so constructed as to accommo- 
date several families, each with separate apartments, and all 
after one model, the Long House, which was the type of their 
League. All the families under one roof were of the same 



1 Morgan (Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines, p. 13) gives an illus- 
tration of this usage in the funeral ceremonies of a prominent sachem of the Senecas, 
at which he was present. 



102 

clan, the symbol or totem of which was painted on the house. 
Whatever was gained by the men in hunting or fishing, or 
by the women in the cultivation of the soil or the ingathering 
of the native fruits, went into the common household store, 
and each one was expected to contribute his or her share to 
the common supj)ort. Both economy and system prevailed 
in all their domestic affairs, under the supervision of a mat- 
ron or stewardess, whose duty it was to distribute the food 
when prepared, and carefully guard against extravagance 
and waste. The women ruled the home. Everything 
favored the mother's influence. Iler's was the family name 
and the children were of her clan. The father was much 
from home, attending to public affairs if a sachem, or pur- 
suing the chase or on the war path. His attachment for his 
sons grew out of companionship, rather than from any share 
in their early training, which was confided to the watchful 
affection of the mother. There are many touching instances 
of the maternal tenderness given in tlie narratives of the 
Jesuit missionaries, while I do not now recall a single allusion 
to such paternal instinct. They often refer to the extraor- 
dinary affection of the Indian mother for her offspring, not 
only in their nurture, but in the grief evinced when forced 
to part with them b}^ death. I give a single instance as 
related by Father James Fremin, one of the earliest of the 
Iroquois missionaries. lie had baptized a young Seneca 
maiden of one of the more distinguished families, of the vil- 
lage Totiacton, only the day before her denth. The mother 
was inconsolable ; and notwithstanding the assurance that 
her daughter had entered upon the fair inheritance of the 
Christian paradise, refused to be comforted. In vain did the 
good missionary speak to her of the joy and happiness of 
the place. "Thou dost not understand," was this mother's 
reply. " My daughter was a mistress here and had command 
of more tlian twenty slaves, who are still with me. She 



103 

never knew what it was to go to the forest to bring wood or 
to the river to draw water. She knows nothing at all of 
housework. She is the only one of our family in the Chris- 
tian's heaven. She will have much trouble to accustom her- 
self to the change, for she will have to cook her own food 
and provide with her own hands what she needs to eat and 
drink. Tralj', is she not to be pitied in having no one to 
serve her in that place? Thou seest one of my slaves here 
who is sick. I beg thee to instruct her fully. Show her the 
path to heaven, lest by any means she miss the way, that she 
may go and lodge with my daughter and take care of her 
that she be free from toil and trouble." 

Here was a family of high social grade among the Senecas, 
with a score of slave women, captive Hurons, or of some 
other subjugated tribe, in which at least the daughters were 
brought up delicately after the manner of wealth and inde- 
pendence. And the grief of this Indian mother so tender 
and simple, following the shade of her child to the land of 
the Hereafter, moves us none the less, perhaps the more, for 
the reason that it could not divest itself of the traditional idea 
of future blessedness, and can only think of the fond spirit 
a lone stranger in the Christian's paradise. 

This household life, moreover, regulated in strict accord- 
ance with the needs of its families and with scarcely a trace 
of individual ownership, recognized not only the ordinary 
duties of neighborly kindness, but also the claims of a com- 
mon humanity. They made no special provision for their 
poor and infirm in anything like a system of public charity, 
but had what gave more effective relief and was more con- 
genial to their social condition. The law of hospitality, whicli 
was universal among them, took the place of all such pro- 
visional arrangements and made it needless. "When any. per- 
son, whether a neighbor or an entire stranger entered an 
Iroquois house, food was set before him as a first duty and 



104 

the sign of welcome. If hungry, he would eat ; if not, would 
merely taste the food, but would not fail to recognize the 
courtesy and thank the host. This would be repeated in 
every house he might enter, and at any hour of the day. It 
was demanded by a rigorous public sentiment, and came 
from a principle fundamental to their religious faith, which 
was that the Great Master of Life, made the earth and all it 
contains for the common good ; and when he filled the forests 
with game and the waters with fish, the gift was a common 
boon, and every one was entitled to his share. The same was 
true of the fruits of the ground, whether they grew wild or 
were cultivated ; for whatever agency man might have in 
procuring or producing them, his labor was nothing without 
the favor of the Good Giver. This hospitality which ever 
tended to regulate the inequality of condition was more than 
a social custom ; it was a stern religious duty. They carried 
it to the extent of self-denial, rather than the stranger or 
needy should suffer. 

I have recently had access to an unpublished journal of 
Cammerhoff and Ziesberger, Moravians, of their visit through 
the Iroquois cantons as late as 1750, which is replete with 
evidences of the kindness and courtesy with which they were 
uniformly treated as they passed from village to village, both 
by the principal men and the people at large. Everywhere a 
cordial welcome greeted them. Everywhere they were made 
to feel at home. The best the house afforded was at the'r dis- 
posal, while they had frequent occasion to note the native 
grace and even high social qualities with which they were 
entertained by those in position and influence. True they saw 
some painful things, for this was a hundred years after the 
white man had sought to corrupt the Indian for purposes of 
gain and when events were conspiring for the fatal catastrophe, 
which was to overwhelm their homes and sweep them from 
the soil. But neither the wrongs which had already excited 



105 

tlieir distrust and began to inflame their revenge, nor the 
vices which were undermining their native virtues, liad been 
able to efface their characteristic kindness and hospitality. Ee- 
ferring to the tenacity with which they adhered to tliis ancient 
law of hospitalit}^, Morgan, who remains our highest author- 
ity on Iroquois institutions, political and social,' says, " it 
was in exact accordance with the unparalleled generosity of 
the Indian character. No test of friendship was too severe ; 
no sacrifice to repay a favor too great; no fidelity to an en- 
gagement too inflexible for the red man. With ;in innate 
knowledge of the freedom and dignity of man, he has exhib- 
ited the noblest virtues of the heart and the kindest deeds of 
humanity in those sylvan retreats we are wont to look back 
upon as vacant and frightful solitudes.'' This is high praise, 
and to some ears, may sound like partial and indiscriminate 
eulogy. But though in contrast with the popular judgment 
long since pronounced upon the Indian, it is the verdict of 
the most candid and careful research, and is accepted by 
scholars who have made social science the study of their 
lives. It is not mere sentiment, but the verdict of history 
that entitles this primitive people to our regard. It accords 
with the whole structure of their society and the spirit which 
animated their body politic. No government like that they 
maintained through the vicissitudes of centuries of national 
life, could have had a basis less secure. Their legislation 
was simple and the penalties which gave law its sanctions 
well defined. Their League stood in the consent of the gov- 
erned. It was a representative, popular government, con- 
ceived in the wisdom of genuine statesmanship, and with the 
sagacity to provide against some of the dangers which beset 
popular institutions. 

No emoluments were attached to the public service, and 



1 The works principally consulted in the preparation of this address, are the Iroquois 
League, AucientjSocicty, and lloiises and House Life among the Aborigines of America. 



106 

the popular esteem was the sole reward of the faitliful ser- 
vant. In the absence of written statutes and a technical sys- 
tem of jurisprudence, the ofliender against public justice 
found a sure and speedy punishment in the shame and con- 
tempt that crushed him beyond the hope of pardon. Their 
very language, we are told by those most familiar with its 
structure, forbade ambiguity or perversion. The native elo- 
quence of their orators, which has become historic, derives 
its power and grace from that entire sympathy in thought and 
feeling, with Nature, as well as tranquil faith in all her 
moods and phases, which is the one characteristic trait of the 
Indian and more than all other differences, separates him 
from civilized man. They spoke in pictures and symbols, 
clothed in direct and simple phrase, and with the wampum 
belt as their witness, no parchment treaty could have been 
more sacred, nor recorded oath more binding. In all their in- 
tercourse with the colonies, French, Dutch or English, never 
were they the first to violate public faith ; and it should not 
be forgotten that it was their fidelity to their covenant with 
the British crown, that cost them their nationality and the 
whole of their fair domain. 

Their religious faith was as simple as it was pervasive and 
dominaiLt. It centered in one supreme Master of life, to 
whom they owed their being and on whom they were depend- 
ent for present and future good ; who ruled the world and 
was the special guardian of the red man. He made known 
his will in dreams and visions, which were of absolute au- 
thority over conduct and life. They had no day or place set 
apart for religious teaching, but were governed in their public 
devotions by the seasons of the year, or any like occasion 
for special recognition of the goodness of the Supreme One. 
There were festive periods, given to gratitude and rejoicing. 
They commenced with the early spring, when the buds began 
to swell upon the trees and the birds filled the woods with 



107 

song, and the maple gave forth its sweet waters ; then also 
at time of planting, that Nature might fulfill her promise of 
bounty ; then too at the first ajDpearance of the summer fruits ; 
and again as the green corn was ready for use, followed by 
the autumnal festival which commemorated the general har- 
vest. But the great jubilee of the year occurred in mid- 
winter, and continued five daj^s with elaborate ceremonies. 
It celebrated the supreme belief, or most excellent faith, to 
use their own title, the bond between them and the Master 
of Life. The Iroquois had also his seasons of fasting ; but 
these were personal and private, confined usually to critical 
periods of temptation or responsibility, in entering upon 
new duties and obligations, or passing out of ^^outli into 
manhood or womanhood. These manitou fasts have given 
rise to some of the most poetic legends of Indian lore. 

One of these, given in detail by Schoolcraft, is incorporated 
by Longfellow in the song of Hiawatha, telling how he 

" Prayed and fasted in the forest, 
Not for greater skill in hunting. 
Not for greater craft in fishing. 
Not for triumphs in the battle 
And renown among the warriors ; 
But for profit of the people ; 
For advantage of the nations." 

In the frequent rehearsal of these legends by the fireside, 
and on public occasions, each generation became familiar 
with the national traditions and the lessons of virtue and hero- 
ism which they inspired. They furnished the springs of 
action, rules of conduct and of restraint, so potential in Indian 
character and life, as exhibited in " the generous friendships, 
the integrity between man and man, the harmony of inter- 
course and sympathy of heart, which bloomed and flourished 
in the depths of the forest." 

In this review of the domestic and social life of a barbarous 
people, my object has been not so much their vindication 



108 

from a false or saperficial judgment, as to illustrate the vital 
connection that holds, alike in rude and civilized society, 
between political forms and social conditions. Society was 
before government, and the family existed, before either. 
Hence free institutions are more dependent upon the home 
virtues than upon breadth of intelligence, and may take 
root and grow strong, where science and the arts, peculiar to 
civilization, are unknown. If the barbarian can teach this 
lesson, he may serve also to correct the delusion that superior 
culture implies superior virtue, or that the race we claim for 
our owm, necessarily transcends in quality, races which have 
flourished and passed away. 



SEVENTH ANNUAL ADDRESS 
BY THE PRESIDENT, 

February 12, 1884. 



ADDRESS, 



It is a custom into vvhieli we have fallen, rather tlian a 
duty provided for in the constitution, that the President make 
an address at each annual meeting. IIow long it may be 
advisable to continue the practice, is becoming with me a 
very serious question, unless the society will adopt the prin- 
ciple of rotation in this office, and distribute the service. 
You have honored me with this position from the oi-igin of 
our association, and this will be my seventh annual address, 
which is given with no little solicitude lest it should come 
short of my own standard even or of your just expectation. 
In the subjects hitherto presented, I have been content to 
follow in the path marked out by those, who, with patience 
and for scholarly ends, have devoted themselves to original 
investigations. With me they have been only occasional 
side studies, by way of recreation, in the midst of duties more 
exacting; and at these annual meetings, I have attempted 
hardly more than to acquaint others with tlie sources of in- 
formation, which have afforded me so much pleasure and 
instruction. 

In each preceding address, it has been my desire to deal 
with some one of the various phases of primitive life, to 
determine, if possible, what it has to teach of man in his 
social, intellectual and moral development, and thus of human 
progress. This I regard to be the chief use and value of 
history — that which gives it its deserved place in all true edu- 
cation. " Why do we want to know history ?" asks an emi- 
nent scholar of our time; and his suggestive answer to the 



112 

question is quite to my purpose. " Why do we want to 
know history? * * * Simply because all of us and 
every one of us, ought to know how we have come to be 
what we are, so that each generation need start again from the 
same point and toil over the same ground ; but profiting 
by the experience of those who came before, may advance 
toward higher points and nobler aims. As a child when grow- 
ing up, might ask his father, or grandfather, who had built the 
house they lived in, or cleared the fields that yielded them their 
food, so we ask the historian whence we cam.e and how we 
came into possession of what we call our own. History may 
tell us afterward many useful and amusing things — gossip 
such as a child might like to learn from his mother or grand- 
mother ; but what histoiy has to teach us before all and 
everything, is our own antecedents, our own ancestry, our 
own descent.'" 

It is this modern and seiisible idea of the province of his- 
tory that has given origin to societies like this, founded and 
maintained for the purpose of gathering the material for such 
teaching, that we may know who were before us in the region 
where We dwell; what sort of men and women had their 
homes on the soil we now occupy ; through what peril and 
hardship they carved tliese goodly farms out of the wilder- 
ness, or from what feeble beginnings they founded the towns 
and cities we inhabit, and planted the institutions, social, 
industrial, literary and religious, which we cherish and would 
preserve. It is to the same end that the American people, now 
at the close of the first hundred years since their independ- 
ence v/as won, have recently had rehearsed the tragic story 
of what it cost to establish free government in this land. 
Nor do we stop with this fi.rst century of national life, if we 
would know how we have come to be the people we are — 



1 A lecture delivered at Cambridi^e, Julj', 18S2, on What Can India Teach us ? by F. 
Max Miiller. 



113 

out of what commingling of race, sprang the men who crossed 
the seas to make this new world their home, or out of what 
struggle and pain was born the freedom they brought to these 
shores. 

But why pause even here, or at any of the great historic 
periods which are marked by the origin of nations, so long 
as we are confronted by a still remoter past in which peoples 
have lived, but of whom history is silent. May we not, 
nevertheless, know something of them also, that will be 
profitable to us ? Is it mere curiosity that tempts the student 
into the obscui-ity of this prehistoric period, to dig among 
its barrows and cromlechs, open its graves and explore its 
mounds, gather and classify its relics ? They have a story 
to tell, and it becomes the more important that we read it 
rightl^^, because of its bearing upon grave problems, that 
reach back to the origin of man and cover the period during 
which he has been an occupant of the eartli. The question 
is, can we read rightly this unwritten liistory apart from its 
connections with written history ? Are there any grounds of 
comparison between these peoples of prehistoric date and peo- 
ples who have a place in history, which may serve to correct 
the merely speculative theories of science? We are familiar 
with the attempts in this direction to derive man from a very 
low origin, and as a necessity in his slow evolution, to assign 
him an antiquity that transcends indefinitely the commonly 
accepted date of his original creation. Thus far we have 
speculation onl)^ for either of these theories in their purely 
scientific aspects, which leave them as far as ever from satis- 
factory solution. As for the origin of the human species 
from a lower (nxler of being, the standing difficulty is that 
there remains a well-defined gap in this line of descent, 
which no discoveiy of natural history has been able to close. 
The connection remains to be supplied. It is still the " mis- 
sing link,'" despite the anxious search all along the whole line 



114 

of Nature's recorded genealogies. Man stands alone, a dis- 
tinct creation. His arboreal progenitor is still to the eve of 
science a mythical creature, and until the mysterious anthro- 
poidal ape, for whom some sanguine theorists would claim 
the honor of being the immediate ancestor of the human 
race, conies to light, we are not required to trace our descent 
farther back than Adam in the garden of Eden. 

Neither have we cause to be disturbed, by any facts as yet 
disclosed b}'' archa3ological research, in the long accepted 
belief, that gives to man a comparatively limited period upon 
the earth, with a nobler beginning in his moral and spiritual 
conditions than he was able to maintain. We have a his- 
torical record, to say nothing here of its authority or even its 
authenticity, which covers this ground ; and we are quite 
willing that it should be subjected to all the tests known to 
historical criticism. This book of Genesis is in agreement 
with archaeology at the one point that man began his exist- 
ence without a knowledge of the arts ; but it also accounts 
for his acquisition of them on a very different basis from 
the assumption that society itself is an evolution from the 
lowest status of savagery. It recognizes a lapse from a 
primitive condition, at which one part of mankind sank into 
barbarism, while the other, through discovery and invention, 
acquired arts and civilization in a very moderate period of 
time, at longest not more than seven generations from the 
father of the race. 

Thus it is noted when and by whom pastoral life was es- 
tablished, one of the marked transitions toward human pro- 
gress in the classification of social sience; and in this ancient 
record, we have the name of Jabal as " the father of such as 
dwell in tents and of such as have cattle." It was his brother 
Jubal who invented the harp and the organ, the first of both 
stringed and wind musical instruments. Then, too, the use 
of the metals in the arts, has been considered by all writers 



115 

on ancient society as the distinctive mark of civilization ; 
and so we read of Tubal-cain as "an instructor of every arti- 
ficer in brass and iron." We are not to suppose that then, 
more than now, these and kindred discoveries and inventions 
were at once perfected, or that these men, without previous 
hint or help from others, conceived and brought into use, by 
their unaided genius, the arts of civilized life. The essen- 
tial point as bearing on this discussion is, that these arts, 
which indicate an advanced social condition, existed at this 
very early period in the history of the race. 

Now as we enter what is termed the prehistoric age, one 
striking feature meets us everywhere, in the identity of the 
prevalent arts, as seen in the wrought material, in pattern, in 
decoration and use, intimating also the frailer products of still 
other arts, as spinning and weaving, that have perished. They 
indicate not only a common origin to mankind, but also a 
mental activity in the way of invention and discovery not sur- 
passed in some subsequent periods, and, perhaps, not equalled 
except in modern days. It is a fair inference from archseolo- 
gical discovery alone, that in physical characteristics and 
intellectual capacity, this prehistoric race was not inferior to 
races of men whose achievements have given them a distin- 
guished place in history. 

Not to enter here upon the question still in dispute among 
scholars, as to which of the continents was first peopled, I 
will only say that as geology declares the American conti- 
nent to be the oldest in physical formation and convenience 
for human habitation^and the eastern portion of it still 
older than the western — so archaeology finds here a rich. 
field to reward its labors with some peculiar advantages, per- 
haps, for valuable results. This is certainly true within the 
limits of Indian antiquity ; and to one acquainted with 
the writings of such careful authors as Wilson, Dawson, 
Brinton and Hale, the facts detailed in the more promi- 



116 

nent of the English and French publications, from which 
such startling conclusions have been drawn as to primitive 
man in Europe, "appear like a new edition of a familiar 
story," For if archaic remains are to be used as evidence to 
determine human conditions, then the Stone Age of Britain, 
France, and western Europe, had its counterpart in Indian 
life in America less than four centuries ago. 

When Jacques Cartier, the earliest of the French ex- 
plorers, sailed up the St. Lawrence in 153-1, he found where 
Quebec now stands, an Indian strong-hold, known as Stada* 
cona. He was received by its chief Dannaconna, in state, 
with twelve canoes and a long speech, accompanied by many 
signs of friendship and good will. Farther up the river was 
the larger Indian town of Hochelaga, occupying the present 
site of Montreal, with here and there a hamlet or fishing 
station along its banks. No little artifice was employed by 
this Indian ruler, to prevent the strangers from proceeding 
farther, as if he were desirious of retaining for Stadacona 
whatever advantage might accrue from a commercial inter- 
course thus opened. He portrayed, with all the eloquence 
of sign language, the dangers of the further navigation of 
the river ; and after a feai-^t with a solemn dance and song, 
drew a circle in the sand about Cartier and his companions, 
in token that they were to remain where they were; and as a 
pledge of friendship and alliance, presented him with a girl 
and two boys from the more distinguished families of the 
town. Seeing that the bold sailor was not thus to be dis- 
suaded from his purpose, the chief finally resorted to the 
sanctities of religion and three medicine men, with black- 
ened faces, drcvssed in dog skins and huge horns on their 
heads, appeared suddenly in a canoe, as messengers from the 
Great Spirit, with the tidings that, on no account, must the 
voyagers proceed farther up the river as certain destruc- 
tion awaited them at Hochelaga, as a judgment upon their 



117 

temerity. Still the acU'enturous Briton was not to be de- 
terred from further exploration, and after a toilsome journey 
of thirteen days, in his smaller boats, reached Hochelaga, 
located back from the river, and near the foot of the moun- 
tain that overlooks the chief city of Canada, and to which 
it gave its name. Here he was received also with all the 
cordiality and courteous marks of Indian hospitality. A 
thousand people — men, women and children — met him at 
the place of landing, known as the St. Mary's suburb of the 
modern city; and the next day, October 3, he was conducted 
together with his companj^, to the town, which was inclosed 
in a circle of palisades and surrounded with broad fields of 
corn just ready for the harvest, bordered by magnificent 
forests, now beginning to assume their splendid autumnal 
hues. In the center of the town, was an open square where 
the men arranged themselves in a circle about their guests, 
made to sit on the ground, while the women and young 
maidens each brought a mat with which they carpeted the 
space assigned the visitors. When all were seated, the 
head chief appeared, born on men's shoulders, with little to 
distinguish him from the others, but with the dignity and 
bearing becoming his position. The customary courtesies 
were exchanged, and after an appropriate religious service 
on the part of the French, various presents were distributed, 
as hatchets and knives for the warriors, beads and other orna- 
ments for the women, and suitable trinkets for the children. 
This was followed by a bountiful supply of food in return, 
when the strangers were conducted back to their boats with 
every demonstration of friendship and good will. 

Here then as at Stadacona, Cartier found a people as primi- 
tive, and as far as utensils and implements suggest analo- 
gies, very like the old Flint Folk of his native France, of 
whom all knowledge had perished in his day, but who 
have since figured with no little effect in the conjectures of 
arclueology concerning prehistoi'ic men. 



118 

But a little more than a hundred years pass away since 
Cartier's hospitable reception at Hochelaga, and when the 
French colonists had fixed upon the eligible site for Mon- 
treal, as one of their three settlements in Canada, when not a 
visible trace remained of its former occupation. The forest had 
usurped the broad and cultivated maize fields, and all evi- 
dence that the spot had once been peopled, lay as securely 
buried beneath the soil, as if it had belonged to the prehis- 
toric age. Indeed, Cartier's narrative remained the only 
historical record of its Indian occupation, until recent exca- 
vations in extending the modern city, disclosed the remains 
of the former town which, but for the narrative of this early 
French exploi'ei', might have been assigned an indefinite 
antiquity and as belonging to an extinct race.' 

As early as in 1609, and only sixty years after the date of 
Cartier's discovery, Champlain went over the same route and 
makes no mention of Hochelaga, which had doubtless been 
swept away in some one of the native wars, waged to adjust 
the balance of power on this continent, before European col- 
onization began. Hochelaga the predecessor of Canada's 
chief city, and Stadacona, that of its world renowned fortress, 
as late as Cartier's day, constituted the political headship of 
a group of contiguous tribes, hemmed in by the aggressive 
Iroquois nations on the south and the fierce Algonquins on 
the north. But before the period of French colonization 
which began with Champlain early in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, these people had disappeared, and the territoij they 
once occupied had become an uninhabited space, between the 
Iroquois and the Algonquin tribes. 

But centuries before Cartier's discovery of the St. Law- 
rence, and within a thousand years from our own time, 
according to native tradition, the ancestors of the Huron 

iSee Fossil Men and their Modern Eepresentatives bj' J. W. Dawscn, LL. J)., etc., 
pp. 70-80. 



119 

Iroquois famil}^ had dwelt in that vicinity, or still farther 
east and nearer the mouth of the great river. As their 
numbers increased, dissensions arose, and band after band 
moved off to the south and west. This brought them in 
collision with other peoples, especially with the barbarous 
Algonquins, until both races were compelled, for a time, at 
least, to unite their forces against a common enemy in the 
Aileghan or Mound Builders, a semi-civilized nation whose 
territory extended from the valley of the Ohio into portions 
of western New York. 

A long and desperate warfare ensued, lasting about a hun- 
dred 3'ears, which ended in the overthrow of the Alleghans, 
their expulsion from the ancient seat of their power, and the 
blotting of their name from the roll of nations. True this is 
tradition and not history, but it is not without a series of 
archa3ological facts which sustain it, together with the evi- 
dence of language which has recently become such an im- 
portant factor in the solution of this problem of races, in 
their relative priority and in their distinctive features. It 
will serve at least to give us a glimpse into a long and bloody 
struggle between opposing races for supremacy, of which this 
continent was the scene, and in which a higher form of civili- 
zation was supplanted and many of its characteristic arts 
perished. Such a history is suggestive. It implies primi- 
tive civilization fading into barbarism, until it should be re- 
placed by some new culture. The Alleghans of the Ohio 
and Mississippi, had their council fires quenched long before 
Cortez attacked the new Mexican Empire of the Aztecs, and 
it is now quite generally conceded that the Spanish con- 
querer supplanted a higher civilization than he established. 

I can scarcely touch here upon the evidence that Ameri- 
ca, before its discovery by Columbus, was undergoing a 
process of degeneracy, and that over wide areas the age of 
civilization preceded that of barbarism. In the Lake Supe- 



120 

rior copper mining regions, for example, Dr. Wilson tells us 
of ancient excavations long since deserted and overgrown 
with aboriginal forest. The tools of the ancient miners who 
worked them, have been unearthed and are quite like those 
found in the ancient copper mines of Wales, in Stafford- 
shire, and in the north of Ireland as well as in Spain and 
Saxony.' Masses of native copper, one of which is said to 
have weighed six tons, had been dislodged and abandoned as 
if the miners had been driven away by some hostile inva- 
sion. 

These ancient mines are said to be found over an extent 
of nearly 150 miles on the south side of Lake Superior, and 
are found, though on a smaller scale, on the north side of the 
lake. Indeed, these people had explored all the rich locali- 
ties of native copper, recently re-discovered ; and their pro- 
duct had, by methods of aboriginal traffic, been dispersed 
over the whole continent, to the gulf of Mexico and the 
Atlantic coast. There must have been quite an extensive 
internal commerce in the raw material as well as in the man- 
ufactured article. The red pipe stone found only in a single 
quarry at the head waters of the Missouri, found its way to 
other and remote regions, as far as New York. Plates of 
mica quarried in the Appalachian districts are found in 
abundance distributed over the plains of the Mississippi and 
the Ohio, and were used as ornaments and perhaps as mir- 
rors. Flint was transported great distances from where it 
abounded to where it was scarce ; and large deposits of disc- 
shaped pieces have been discovered, as if the material had 
been stored up for transportation to be worked as needed. 
So with various articles now found distributed over the 
length and breadth of the continent, evincing an internal 
trade with general thrift and peace.' These mining arts 



: 2Ien, etc., p. 171. 
2 See chapter VI. of Fossil 3fen, etc., entitled, " Lost Arts of Primitive Races." 



121 

with the manufacture of the metals, became lost to the Indian. 
Similar changes in other respects and all tending to degrada- 
tion, are in direct contradiction to the theories held with so 
much confidence of the primitive barbarism and semi-brutal 
character of man. There are facts in the old world also, which 
would point in the same direction. For example, the wild 
Veddahs are known to be a degraded branch of the great 
Aryan family to which the civilized Hindoo belongs. The 
Hottentots and even the Bushmen of South Africa, can be 
shown by language and by customs, to be the degenerate 
descendants of that great Ethiopian nation which, in upper 
Egypt, founded one of the oldest known civilized kingdoms. 

"To suppose," says Dr. Dawson, (who is my authority for 
the more important of the foregoing statements), " that the 
savage hunters of our day are the primeval type of man, is one 
of the most unfounded assumptions of that materialistic philo- 
sophy which degrades the intellect as well as the right feeling 
of our time. At the same time, it has been the policy of this 
philosophy to gather up and parade all that is discreditable 
and low in the condition and manners of the modern savages, 
so as to approximate him as nearly as possible to brutes, and 
exhibit him as the existing representative of our prehistoric 
ancestors. Thus there is created at once a double prejudice 
hostile to true views of human origin and history and to the 
brotherhood of humanity, as well as to its spiritual relations 
and higher aspirations.'" 

The expulsion of the mound builders, left their territory to 
be occupied as circumstances might indicate. That branch 
of the Huron-Iroquois stock familiarly known as the Five 
Nations, held the head waters flowing from the south, which 
determined their ultimate habitation. Their starting point, 
and before their consolidation into separate tribes, was at the 
mouth of the Oswego river, and their first migration extended 



1 Fossil Men, etc., pp. 68, 69. 



122 

to the Hudson, when the main portion retraced their steps 
to the Mohawk, where they took up their abode along the 
streams and the upper waters of the Hudson. Gradually 
and in bands, which afterward grew into tribes, the migra- 
tions were westward, halting at points inviting settlement 
from their natural advantages, indicated by streams and 
lakes, until they became five tribes or nations, each adopting 
a significant name, with separate dialects, but differing slightly 
from the common language and a well defined territory.' 
Here again, we have an illustration of the law of decadence, 
not from culture to barbarism, but within the limits of bar- 
barism itself, which, though destitute of the arts that dis- 
tinguish civilized life, admits of the virtues which are a 
necessity of society and the strength of nations. Long before 
Columbus had sailed for the new world, this people had con- 
summated their famous league, admitted to have been a mas- 
ter piece of political wisdom as humane as it was wise. It 
was the outgrowth, as I endeavored to make plain in my last 
annual address, of their domestic and social life. It was 
framed, not only in the interest of union, but for the sake of 
peace, both among themselves and with the other native 
nations, with some of which they had been in long and bit- 
ter conflict. There were those of their sachems and warriors 
who were weary of these hereditary strifes and anxious that 
they should cease. The founders of the league, however, had 
in view a still broader design, inspired by the hope that, if 
peace was secured with the other tribes, it might lead to 
union with them also, and thus its advantjtges might become 
universal. They named the league " The Great Peace," and 
called themselves " The People of the Long House " — a house 
so planned that it might be lengthened as fast and as far as 
the contiguous nations were willing to dwell under its one 
roof. It was simply the larger idea suggested by their 

1 Sec the Iroquois Book of Bites edited by Horatio Hale, M. A., etc. etc., p. 13. 



123 

domestic life. Every Iroquois house was constructed to 
accommodate several families of the same clan ; and to pro- 
vide for an additional family, it was only necessary to add to 
the length of the house the required apartments, without 
any farther change in its arrangements. Each house there- 
fore, in all of their villages, was built after this one plan, 
and was an ever present type or symbol of their confederacy, 
which rested in the faith of kindred and embraced, for the 
purposes of government, one political family. It was not an 
unreasonable hope cherished bj^ Hiawatha and his fellow- 
councillors, that the Long House, first built to shelter in 
mutual peace the five contiguous tribes, might in time, be 
extended to include the other Indian nations, nearly all of 
whom had a similarly constituted tribal life, though with less 
compact and permanent governments. The principle of 
Union, having its germ in the clan (which is the key to 
Indian life, social and political) and effective in the league 
for the common defense and welfare, was capable of this in- 
definite expansion. It was in this regard, not unlike our 
own federal constitution framed for the original states, but 
providing for the admission of new states on equal term.s and 
protective of the common rights of all. It is said that the 
framers of our own government borrowed some of its features 
from this Indian league. Whether or not this be true, it is 
a matter of history that as early as 1755, a suggestion came 
from the Iroquois nation to the colonies that they should 
unite in a confederacy like their own, for mutual protec- 
tion. 

These primitive statesmen may have been in advance of 
their day, in seeking to embody such a lofty idea in politi- 
cal forms. That the league, however, in its original concep- 
tion, included this amicable and generous purpose, there can 
be no doubt; and its failure to compass what must be 
regarded as the higliest and noblest end of all human insti- 



124 

tutions, will not detract from our respect for these Leroes 
and law-givers of the Stone Age. 

Besides, this failure was not for the lack of earnest and 
persistent effort to this end.* No sooner was the Great 
Peace well established than measures were taken to induce 
other tribes to come into union or to form an alliance. An 
embassy was sent to the distant Cherokees, the hereditary 
enemies of the Iroquois, with proposals of peace and a 
cordial invitation to share the Long House ; but for reasons 
which do not appear in the history of the negotiation, the 
proposition was declined. 

Another deputation was sent to the western Algonquins, 
which met with favor and resulted in a friendly alliance 
which was preserved inviolate two hundred years, when 
through French interference it was impaired though not 
entirely broken up. The door at either end of the ijong 
House, was kept open, as a hospitable welcome to any well 
disposed tribe desiring the proffered union. 

The reasons which would operate against the alliance with 
or incorporation into the confederacy, rose out of the rivalries 
and jealousies which provoke war. This people of the Long 
House, much as they might desire to be at peace with their 
neighbors, were drawn into repeated and devastating wars 
which were not, in the first instance, of their own seeking. 
They made early treaties with the Dutch and English and kept 
them to the last. The first knowledge they had of the French 
colonists, was in the successive invasions of their territory 
under the lead of Champlain with his Indian allies. As Mr. 
Hale says in his defense of the Iroquois character, "this 
stroke of evil policy which tarnished an illustrious name, 
left far-reaching consequences affecting the future of half a 



1 This is conclusively shown by Mr. Hale in that portion of his Introduction to TTi* 
Iroquois Book of Eites, devoted to the League and its Founders, (pp. 18-38), to which 
the reader is referred. 



125 

continent. Its first result was the destruction of the Hurons, 
the special allies and instigators of the colonists, in their 
hostilities. The Attiwandaronks, or Neutrals, with whom, 
till this time, the Iroquois had maintained peaceful relations, 
shared the same fate ; for they were the friends of the Hurons 
and the French. The Eries perished in a war provoked, as the 
French missionaries in their always trustworthy accounts, in- 
form us, by a perverse freak of cruelty on their own part."' 
Still in each of these instances the Iroquois adhered to their 
ancient policy, which was to incorporate into their cantons 
their subjugated enemies, and whole villages composed of 
Hurons, and Eries and Neuters, were gathered within their 
territory which Mr. Hale justly characterizes as the "Great 
Asylum" of the Indian tribes; and what the persuasions of 
peace failed to secure, followed, in part, the necessities of war. 

When the Tuscaroras were expelled ' from North Carolina 
by the English, they found refuge with the Iroquois and be- 
came the sixth nation of the confederacy ; the Tuteloes, the 
Sapones and others of the Dakota stock still farther south, 
fleeing from their enemies, sought the shelter of the Long 
House, and were not denied. So of the Delawares, Mohegans 
and the fragmentary tribes of Algonkin lineage, whose 
descendants, Mr. Hale reminds us, still reside on the Cana- 
dian Eeservation, which, he adds, "may well be styled an 
aboriginal ' refuge of nations,' affording striking evidence 
in our day, of the persistent force of a great idea, when 
embodied in practical shape by the energy of a master 
mind."^ 

It was in accordance with this amicable design of the 
league, that it made no provision in its constitution for carry- 
ing on war. It had no military department. A sachem, or 
member of the Grand Council, was not allowed to go upon 

1 Iroquois Book of Rites p. 95. 
2lb., p. 33. 



126 

tlie war path. No warrior could hold civil office, lest he 
should be tempted to use his place to further military ambi- 
tion. The Iroquois were surrounded by euemies, and occa- 
sions for involving the entire confederacy in hostilities, were 
frequent. There was the constant liability from some quarter, 
of assault or invasion, usually by stealth to deal a sudden 
and swift blow. The prowling warrior of some unfriendly 
tribe would lurk in the woods near some village, through 
the day, and in the dead of night, fall with hatchet and club 
on his unsuspecting victims.^ 

Hence, for the most part, war expeditions were private 
enterprises for retaliation, and composed of small parties or 
bands, which could easily penetrate the enemy's country. 
A war chief was at liberty at any time, to gather to his 
lead a company of braves for this purpose ; and if successful 
was publicly honored for his valor. 

At the same time, special provision was made in the laws 
of the League against the liability of wars among them- 
selves. It was one of the required functions of the federal 
council to watch against every occasion or cause of domestic 
strifes, and seek to reconcile disputes that might arise be- 
tween different clans and tribes, above all in the killing of a 
tribesman — that most prolific cause of Indian wars. In 
every such instance, it became the solemn duty of the gen- 
eral council to assume control of the affair, and not even 
allow the subject to be openly discussed lest the popular 
passion might be inflamed and rash measures be adopted. 
It was a subject that received the calmest and most deliber- 
ate consideration ; and when an adjustment was reached, that 
was an end to the affair. It M^as buried so deep that never 
again could the sun look upon it.° 

There was another notable feature in this primitive con- 



1 Iroquois Book of Rites, p. 97. 

9 TV. T. RO 



2 lb., p. 69, 



127 

federacy, in which it differed from the loose forms of govern- 
ment common among the Indian tribes. The office of 
sachem or councillor was perpetual and not dependent on 
the life or achievements of the individual chief. When a 
sachem died, a council was convened to condole his loss, and 
at the same time to install his successor, chosen by the popular 
voice, under the limitations imposed in the choice of their 
rulers. The perpetuity of office is expressed by tlie signi- 
ficant injunction laid down, with emphasis, in their Book of 
Kites, that the " horns," which were emblematic of official 
rank, or as we would say, the insignia of office, should not 
be buried with the departed chief, but should be taken off 
at his death and placed upon his lawful successor. It reads 
thus : 

"As soon as he is dead, even then the horns shall be 
taken oft'. For if invested with horns he should be borne 
into the grave, oh, my grandsires," they said, "we should, 
perhaps, all perish if invested with horns he is conveyed to 
the grave,"' i. e. if his office be buried with him. 

This was a feature peculiar to the Iroquois league, as 
compared with other Indian confederations, and the orderly, 
systematic transmission of official dignity and authority, a 
vital principle of their federal union, as it is of all stable 
governments. This, however, did not detract from the re- 
spect and veneration in which they held their departed he- 
roes and statesmen. They were wont, as we are sometimes, 
to draw comparisons of the past with the present, and la- 
ment the degeneracy of the times. On the occasion just re- 
ferred to, of the installation of a councillor, the officiating 
orator, after reciting the laws of the League and as he was 
about to rehearse the names of its founders, which still re- 
main the official titles of the successors of the fifty chiefs 



1 iTvquois Book of Rites, p. 125. 



128 

who composed its first federal council, appeals to the 
shades of the mighty dead, in words full of pathos and elo- 
quence. Standing in the midst of the assembled senators, 
and speaking for them, he breaks out in grief and lamenta- 
tion : 

" Hail my grandsires ! ISTow hearken while your grand-' 
children cry mournfully to you, because the Great League 
which you established has grown old. We hope that they 
may hear. 

" Hail my grandsires ! You have said that sad will be 
the fate of those who came in the latter times. * * * 

" Oh my grandsires ! Even now that has become old which 
you established — the Great League. You have it as a pil- 
low under your heads in the ground where you are lying — 
this Great League, which you established ; although you said 
that far away in the future, the Great League would endure.' 

" Now, listen, ye who established the Great League. Now, 
it has become old. Now, there is nothing but wilderness. 
Ye are in your graves who established it. Ye have taken 
it with you and placed it under you "and there is nothing 
left but a desert. There ye have taken your intellects with 
you. What ye established, ye have taken with you. Ye 
have placed under your heads what ye established — the 
Great League."^ 

This was their way of commemorating the virtues and 
deeds of their great men and benefactors, and of perpetuat- 
ing the principles on which their government rested. They 
had no executive head, no chief who outranked his fellows ; 
but all authority was vested in the council, composed of the 
fifty sachems, who perpetuated the names of the original 
frarners of the confederacy, and convened as often as public 
business required. If the Senecas, for example, desired the 

1 Iroquois Book of Bites, pp. 123, 125. 

2 lb. p. 129. 



129 

calling of the council for advice and action, they dispatched 
a messenger to the Cayugas, with the wampum belt as a 
sign of his mission, when the Cayugas would send one 
of their number clothed with similar authority to the Onon- 
dagas ; and they to the neighboring Oneidas, and the Onei- 
das to the Mohawks ; and as the summons flew from canton 
to canton, a public interest was excited and often a large 
number of the people — men, women and children — would 
gather at the capital to witness the proceedings. When the 
council fire was lighted and the smoke rose to the sky as 
emblematic of the call to consider the business in hand, it 
was the custom to rehearse in the presence of all, the words 
of their law as addressed to the sachems, reminding them of 
the grave duties entrusted to them as the representatives of 
the whole people. 

" Wlmt is the purpose of the smoke?" asks the orator 
who opens the council. " It is this — that the chiefs must all 
be honest ; that they must all love one another ; and that 
they must have regard for their people, including the women 
and also our children, and also those children whom we 
have not yet seen ; so much they must care for, that all 
may be in peace, even the whole nation. It is the duty 
of the chiefs to do this, and they have the power to govern 
their people. If there is anything to be done for the good 
of the people, it is their duty to do it." ' 

Their legislation had this wide reach, and the league was 
effective to devise ways for the correction of evils and the 
doing away of customs, that had proved the weakness of 
other Indian nations. No emoluments were attached to the 
public service and the popular esteem was the sole reward 
for the faithful performance of duty. In the absence of a 
written constitution and laws, they improved evey opportu- 



Iroquois Book of Eites, p. 170. 



180 

nity of a public nature, to recite from memory their care- 
fully preserved traditions, which embraced the leading facts 
of their history, and which were thus made familiar to the 
people. 

We are so accustomed to measure the aboriginal Indian, 
by the degenerate and often degraded specimens of the race, 
which still linger on the borders of our civilization, or are 
cooped in reservations, that it is difficult to do justice to his 
native character. But the fact is, he does not suffer from 
comparison with the average colonist Dutch, French or Eng- 
lish, either in intellectual or moral manhood. He was above 
the standard of civilized life, in parts of Europe in the same 
period. There are no such pictures of the ferocity of the 
red man, even by the most unfriendly hand, as the historian 
has given us of whole communities in the Highlands of 
Scotland, not two centuries ago. Mr. Lecky, in his History 
of England in the eighteenth century, describes the com- 
mon people in those parts of Britain, as broken into fierce 
classes, ruled by wild chieftains; as thieves and cattle- 
lifters, kidnappers of men and children to be sold as slaves ; 
as ferocious barbarians, besotted with the most brutal igno- 
rance, and the grossest and gloomiest superstitions ; pos- 
sessed of the rudest modes of agriculture, scratching the 
earth with a crooked piece of wood for a plough, and for a 
harrow a bush attached to the tail of a horse, otherwise 
devoid of a harness ; their food, oatmeal and milk, mixed 
with blood drawn from the living cow ; their cooking revolt- 
ing and filthy, boiling their beef in the hide, and roasting fowls 
in their feathers, with many like customs and demoralizing 
habits unknown to aboriginal life on this continent.' Cartier 
found no such people, in the friendly Hochelagans, along the 
shores of the St. Lawrence, though he was the first European 



1 See History of England in the Eighteenth Century by William Edward Hartpole 
Lecky, Vol. II, pp. 22-29, London, 1878. 



181 

to explore its waters. Ilendrick Hudson as he sailed up the 
river which bears his name, saw no such sight, but found a 
gentle, courteous, loving people, as he calls them, in the 
Mohican tribes that dwelt along its banks. It is the good 
Eoger Williams, the founder of Khode Island, who from 
long and intimate acquaintance with the Narragansets, says 
in his quaint phrase: " For the temper of the brain, in quick 
apprehension and discerning judgments (to say nothing 
more), the High Sovereign God and Creator, hath not made 
them inferior to Europeans." That stern puritan, Edward 
Winslow, Governor of the Plymouth Colony, writes after this 
manner, to a friend in England : " We have found the In- 
dians very faithful to the covenants of peace with us, very 
loving and ready to pleasure us. We go with them, in some 
cases, fifty miles in the country, and .walk as safely with 
them, in the woods, as in the highways of England. We 
entertain them in our houses, and they are very friendly in 
bestowing their venison upon us. They are a people with- 
out religion, yet very trusty, quick of apprehension, humor- 
ous and just." I could add a volume of similar, and in some 
respects, more favorable testimony, as to the Hurons and 
Iroquois, from the French Jesuit Fathers, who were men of 
culture as well as devotion, and who shared their daily life, 
eating the same food, lodging under the same roof as perma- 
nent guests, that they might the more readily gain their 
confidence and thus win them to the Christian faith. 

Such was the uniform impression that these aborigines 
made upon the first explorers, colonists and missionaries 
with whom they had intercourse. They were barbarians, in 
the sense that they were unacquainted with many of the 
arts. They were savages in the original meaning of that 
term, dwellers of the wood, and native to the forest, living, as 
one tersely puts it, " in tratiquil subjection to nature, and 
dying as her autumnal fruits and leaves fall upon her 



182 

bosom." This is after all the main difference, between sav- 
age and civilized life. The savage conforms and adapts 
himself to nature. He never complains of her ways, nor 
seeks to change her order. His habit, modes of thought, 
language, all partake of the freedom, which familiarity with 
nature alone begets. The native eloquence of the Indian 
orator, which has become historic, derives its power and 
grace from this entire sympathy with nature and calm faith 
in all her moods and phases, which is the one characteristic 
trait of these primitive barbarians. The civilized man is 
thrown into antagonism " with nature as one of the necessi- 
ties of progress. He changes the face of things, sacrifices 
beauty for utility, fights, thwarts nature at every step; and 
after he has done all, fails to produce a civilization without 
its uncouth, and even brutal features. Ignorance and ])ov- 
erty, lust and crime, with their tragedies of cruelty and 
shame, are still the counterparts of culture, wealth, and the 
most advanced material prosperity. The first colonists who 
came to this new world, represented the most refined nations 
on the globe, and yet not one of them, Spain, France or 
England, if judged by the attitude they stood to each other, 
or by their methods of government, or even by their social 
and domestic life, in some of its features, had reason to boast 
of a superior virtue or a nobler humanity than was native to 
these denizens of the forest. Their civilized contemporaries 
have outstripped these barbarians in the temper and arts of 
inhumanity about in the measure of their superior knowl- 
edge and resources as nations. But we do not judge them 
from their worst side. We do not so judge ourselves as a 
people, and it is but simple justice that this aboriginal life 
should be estimated from its best and not its worst side, as 
if the Indian were the exception to all men, and his only 
merit the cruel fate that has been meted out to him. 

There remains a single inquiry naturally suggested by this 



133 

discussion, and which is now receiving the patient attention 
of such scholars as I have already referred to, viz : What 
are the ethnic relations of the North American Indian ? Is 
he of Asiatic or European origin ? May he not be a distinct 
type, partaking of the characteristics of both the eastern and 
western races? Without attempting to answer these ques- 
tions, it may be said, that tlie weight of evidence thus far, 
is in favor of the theor}^ which would derive the American 
Indian from the aboriginal race of southern and western 
Europe, which, as we have seen, in many particulars, lie 
so closely resembles. In his admirable essay on "Indian 
Migrations as evidenced by Language,'" Mr. Horatio Hale, in 
addition to the argument derived from similarity of charac- 
teristics physical and mental, the force of which he recog- 
nizes, remarks : " Of this early European people, by some 
called the Iberian race, who were ultimately overwhelmed by 
the -i-ryan emigrants from central Asia, the Basques are the 
only survivors that have retained their original language ; 
but all the nations of southern Europe, commencing with 
the Greeks, show in their physical and mental traits a large 
intermixture of this aboriginal race. As we advance west- 
ward, the evidence of this infusion becomes stronger, until in 
the Celts of France and of the British Islands, it gives the pre- 
dominant cast to the character of the people." * * * 
If communities resembling the Iroquois and the Caribs, once 
inhabited the British Islands and the western coasts of the 
adjacent continent, we may be sure that their fleets of large 
canoes, such as have been exhumed from the peat-deposits 
and river-beds of Ireland, Scotland and France, swarmed all 
along the shores and estuaries of that region. Accident or ad- 
venture may easily have carried some of them across the At- 
lantic, not merely once, but in many successive emigrations 



1 A paper read at a Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, held at Montreal, in August, 188.3 : re-printed from the American Antiquarian 
for January and April, 1883. 



134 

from different parts of western Europe. The distance is less 
than that which the canoes of the Polynesians were accustomed 
to traverse. The derivation of the American population 
from this source, presents no serious improbability what- 
ever."' 

In the absence of positive knowledge, but with affinities of 
language and the analogies of race, which are deemed so 
conclusive in the distribution of peoples, the probabilities 
strongly favor this European rather than an Asiatic origin 
of our aboriginal Indians. Besides, as Mr. Hale suggests,'' 
how shall we account for the personal independence, amount- 
ing to a passion for political freedom, with the capacity for 
self government, that has always marked the aborigines of 
this continent and so signally displayed by the Iroquois 
nations, but of which the Asiatic peoples give no sign ? If 
this shall prove the true story of the origin of the American 
Indian, it will cease to be a mystery that there should have 
been found, with the discovery of this continent, a community 
of tribes, like this of the Iroquois, under a political system 
instinct with the love of liberty and embodying some of the 
vital principles of popular government with the traits, men- 
tal and moral, essential to such a government. Indeed it 
would not be strange if, in the further revelations of archaso- 
logical research as interpreted by history, it should come 
to light that our own old world ancestors and the ancestors 
of the aboriginal Indian of this continent, were nearer of kin 
than we have been wont to suppose. 

Let this be as it may, the red man can never lose his claim 
upon our regret and sympathy, from the single fact that wo 
have dislodged him from his heritage. We occupy the 
places from which he has vanished. We may not forget 
that he was once here ; and whether the reason be a just or an 



1 Indian Migrations, etc., p. 25. 

2 lb. p. 27. 



135 

unjust one, he is here no longer ; that the good of life came 
to him from the same sources and aspects of nature with 
which we are surrounded — these unchageable features of hill 
and vale, lake and stream, forever identified with him by 
descriptive names and historic memories. We of this Empire 
State, above all others, cannot well forget that as a common- 
wealth, we have succeeded to an estate of prestige and power, 
bravely won and wisely ruled by these children of the 
forest ; that so many of our towns and cities perpetuate 
their ancient sites ; that our highways of commerce and 
travel, were first mapped out by their well-worn trails, and 
that our boundary lines from the sea to the lakes, established 
by their valor, were secured to us through their fidelity to 
covenants made with our colonial fathers ere they achieved 
their mdependence. Thus their history must ever remain 
closely interwoven with our history as a State, at its most 
critical period when we were weak and they were strong, 
and when their friendship turned the scale in favor of liberty 
after its long conflict on many a battle field of Europe, but 
destined to be fought over again on their hunting grounds 
and along their war paths. 

" Ve say that all have passed away, 

The noble race and brave ; 
That their light canoes have vanished 

From off the crested wave ; 
That mid the forest where they roamed, 

There rings no hunter's shout ; 
But their name is on your waters, 

Ye may not wash it out. 

" Ye say their cone-like cabins, 

That cluster'd o'er the vale, 
Have disappeared like withered leaves 

]?efore the autumn gale ; 
But their memory liveth on your hills. 

Their baptism on your shore, 
Your ever living waters speak 

Their dialect of yore." 



ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

ANNUAL MEETINGS 

OF THE 

CAYUGA CO. HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

1878-1884, 

TOGETHER WITH THE 

BY-LAWS AND LIST OF MEMBERS. 



ABSTRACT. 



No report of the proceedings of the annual meetings of 
this society has been published since 1878. The following 
abstract is therefore presented : 

At the annual meeting held February 12, 1879, the fol- 
low officers were elected for the ensuing year : 

President, — Rev. Charles Hawley, D. D. 

Vice President, — Gek Wm. H. Seward. 

Correspondi7ig Secretary, — BENJAMIN B. Snow. 

Recording Secretary, — Nelson B. Eld red. 

Treasurer, — David M. Dunning. 

Librarian, — Dennis R. Alward. 

Trustees, — JoHN H, Osborne, Blanchard Fosgate, 
Josiah Letch worth, David M. Dunning, Lewis E. Car- 
penter, Benj. B, Snow, James D. Button. 

At the adjourned meeting held February 25th, the Presi- 
dent read his annual address, relating to the Sullivan cam- 
paign, and Mr. B. B. Snow read a " Record of Current Local 
Events" of the year preceding. At this meeting measures 
were taken to establish a "Publication Fund," and the Pres- 
ident, and Messrs. B. B. Snow and B. C. Smith were ap- 
pointed a committee to solicit for such fund. The annual 
report of the Treasurer was presented, and appeal's below. 
It was determined that the society publish the " Harden bergh 
Journal " of the Sullivan campaign. 

At the annual meeting held February 10, 1880, the offi- 
cers of the previous year were all re-elected as were also the 
Trustees, with the exception of Dr. Blanchard Fosgate, who 
declined, and Mr. Lewis E. Lyon was elected to fill the 



140 

vacancy. The President again presented an address, but no 
other papers or reports were presented. 

At the annual meeting held February 8, 1881, the Treas- 
urer presented his annual report which appears below. At 
this meeting By-Law No. 4 was amended so as to make the 
annual fee for membership five dollars, instead of ten as 
heretofore. Measures were also taken to increase the mem- 
bership. 

The officers of the previous year were re-elected, as were 
also the Trustees. 

The exercises of the meeting were closed with the annual 
address of the President, which is published in Collections 
No. 2 of the society. 

At the annual meeting held February 14th, 1882, the 
officers and the trustees of the previous year were duly re- 
elected. In accordance with established custom the Presi- 
dent presented his annual address, published in Collections 
No. 2 of the society. A fund of one hundred dollars was 
raised at this meeting to aid in publishing the papers of the 
society. 

At the annual meeting held February 13th, 1883, the 
annual reports of the Treasurer and Librarian were read and 
ordered on file. The officers and trustees of the preceding 
year were re-elected, except that Mr. John H. Osborne was 
elected Librarian in place of Mr. D. R. Alward, whose 
absence from the city interfered with his discharge of the 
duties to such an extent as to induce him to decline a re- 
election. Mr. D. W. Adams was, for similar reasons, elected 
trustee in place of Mr. L. E. Carpenter. The President pre- 
sented his annual address, which is published herewith. 

At the annual meeting held February 12th, 1884, the 
report of the Treasurer was presented, read and referred. 
The trustees and officers of the preceding year were duly 
re-elected, excepting that in place of Mr. Josiah Letchworth, 



141 

Trustee, removed from the city, Mr. William G. Wise was 
duly elected. The President presented his annual address, 
which is published herewith. It was resolved that the pro- 
ceedings of the annual meetings since 1878 be published in 
pamphlet form, and in connection therewith the annual 
addresses of the President, or so many and such parts there- 
of as he might furnish for publication. 

Treasurer's Reports. 
The Treasurer's reports from year to year are as follows : 

Balance on hand February i, 1879, $196 63 

Received for Membership Fees, 430 

$626 63 
Paid for Publishing Collections, $129 28 

Paid Current Expenses, 280 12 

$409 40 

Balance February 1, 1880, $217 23 

Received for Membership Fees, $37° 00 

Received from Sales of Collections, 4 50 

$374 50 

I591 73 
Paid Current Expenses for Year, 316 58 

Balance February i, i88r $275 15 

Received for Membership Fees, 1881, 170 00 

$445 15 
Paid Current Expenses for Year 301 12 

Balance February i, 1882, $144 C3 

Received for Membership Fees, 18S2, 315 00 

$459 03 
Paid Current Expenses for Year, 275 21 

Balance February i, 1883, $183 82 

Received for Membership Fees, 1883 226 50 

$410 32 
Paid Current Expenses, 286 56 

Balance on hand February i, 1884 - $123 76 



142 



PUBLICATION FUND. 



Received from Contributions in Year 1S82, $I77 00 

Less Paid for Balance Cost of Publishing Collection No. 2, 79 66 

Balance on Hand, $ gy 34 

Publications of the Society. 

No. 1. — Journal of Sullivan's Campaign by Col. John L. 
Hardenbergh with notes by Gen. John S. Clark and a bio- 
graphical sketch by Kev. Charles Hawley, D. D. 

No. 2. — Fourth annual address of the President, 1881, 
Eev. Charles Ilawley, D. D. 

Fifth annual address of the President, 18S2, Rev. Charles 
Hawley, D. D. 

Early History of Friends in Cayuga Count}^ Miss Emily 
Howland; Inventors and Inventions of Cayuga County, Hon. 
Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., with supplement by Hon. D. M. 
Osborne. 

Papers Read before the Society. 

The following is a list of the papers which have been read 
before the Society at its monthly meetings : 

1878. 

March 12. — Art and Professional Artists in Cayuga 
County, Col. T. J. Kennedy. 

May 14 — Homeopathy, and its Introduction into Cayuga 
County, H. Robinson, Sen., M. D. 

June 12. — Henry Clay's First Visit to Auburn and West- 
ern New York, Hon. Wm. H. Bogart. 

October 8. — The Auburn Declaration of 1837, Prof. Sam- 
uel M. Hopkins, D. D. 

November 19. — Early Days in Auburn, Michael S. Myers, 
Esq. 

December 17. — Life and Character of David Thomas, Mr. 
John J. Thomas. 



143 

1879 

January 14. — A Sketch of Captain Eos well Franklin, the 
Pioneer Settler of Cayuga County, Eev, Charles Hawley, D. D. 

April 15. — Communism, B. Fosgate, M. I). 

May 13. — An Account of the Early Settlement of the 
Town of Genoa, D. Warren Adams, Esq. 

October 14. — Life and Times of Millard Fillmore, Cyrus 
Powers, M. D. 

November 11. — The Bar of Cayuga County from 1843 to 
1860, James R Cox, Esq. 

December 16. — Journal of the Sullivan Expedition, writ- 
ten by Col. John L. Hardenbergh, with notes by Gen. John 
S. Clark, and Biographical Sketch by Rev. Charles Hawley, 
D. D. 

1880. 

March 9. — History of the Society of Friends of Cayuga 
County, Miss Emily Howland. 

October 19. — Early Reminiscences of Auburn, Mrs. S. P. 
Bacon ; Early Recollections of Auburn, Mrs. John Porter. 

November 16. — Recollections of the Origin and Growth 
of the Temperance Movement, David Wright, Esq. 

November 17. — Inventors and Inventions of Cayuga 
County, Hon. C. Wheeler, Jr., supplemented by a sketch of 
the life of Mr. Wheeler, with an account of his inventions, 
by Hon. D, M. Osborne, 

1881. 

January 11. — Some Reminiscences of my Early Life in 
Auburn, Mrs. S. Benton Hunt. 

March 8. — Recollections of my Early Life in Auburn, 
Mrs. Deborah A. Bronson. 

April 12. — Autobiography of Judge Elijah Miller and his 
Early Recollections of Cayuga County, read by Frederick L 
Allen. 



144 

October 11. — Mj Early Kecollections of Auburn, Mrs. A. 
B. Clary. 

November 15. — Reminiscences of Port Byron, J. D. But- 
ton, M. D. 

1882. 

March 14. — Early Reminiscences of Auburn, Leverett 
Ball, Esq. 

October 10. — Memorial of Mrs. A. B. Clary, J. D. But- 
ton, M. D.; Sketch of the Life of Governor Enos T. Throop, 
Mrs. E. T. T. Martin. 

November 14. — An Unwritten Chapter in the History of 
Auburn, Harold E. Hills, Esq. 

1883. 

January 16. — Early History of the Bank of Auburn, part 
I, James Seymour, Jr., Esq. 

March 13. — Early Settlement of the Town of Owasco, 
Hon. John I. Brinkerhoff. 

April 25. — The Cayuga Joint Stock Company, Weston A. 
Ogden, Esq. 

1884. 

January 15. — Some Reminiscences of the late C. H. Merri- 
man, James R. Cox, Esq. 

May 13. — Memorial Sketch of Silas L. Bradley, Rev. W. 
H. Allbright. 



BY-LAWS. 



1. The name of the Society shall be, " The Cayuga County 
Historical Society." 

2. The object of the Society shall be to discover, procure 
and preserve whatever relates to the natural, civil, military, 
industrial, literary and ecclesiastical history, and the history 
of science and art, of the State of New York, in general, and 
the County of Cayuga in particular. 

8. The Society shall consist of resident, honorary, and 
corresponding members. Eesident members shall be nomi- 
nated by a member in open meeting, and the nominations 
referred to the membership committee, which shall report 
thereon at the next regular meeting. A ballot shall then be 
taken in which five negative votes shall exclude. Resident 
members only shall be entitled to vote. Honorary and cor- 
responding members shall be elected inthe same manner. 

4. The annual dues for resident members shall be five 
dollars each year, payable on the first day of February in 
advance. The sum of fifty dollars paid at one time shall be 
in full for all annual dues during life. A failure or refusal 
to pay annual dues within three months after the same be- 
come due, shall work a forfeiture of membership, and the 
Trustees shall erase the name of such delinquent from the 
roll of members unless said dues shall be paid, or be remitted 
by a vote of the Society, 

6. The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice- 
President, Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, 
Treasurer, Librarian, and seven Trustees, all of whom shall 
be elected by ballot from the resident members only, and 



146 

shall hold their offices for one year, and until others are 
chosen to fill their places. 

6. The annual meeting of the Society shall be held on the 
second Tuesday in February in each and every year, at which 
a general election of officers shall take place. In such elec- 
tion a majority of the ballots given for any officer shall con- 
stitute a choice ; if no choice is made on the first ballot, 
another ballot shall take place, in which a plurality shall 
determine the choice. 

7. If a vacancy shall occur in any office the same may be 
filled by the Board of Trustees. 

8. The Society shall meet statedly for the transaction of 
business on the second Tuesday of each month, at such hour 
of the day as may be decided upon, unless otherwise specially 
ordered. The President, or in his absence, the Vice-Presi- 
dent, may call special meetings for special purposes, the 
nature thereof being fully set forth in the call. 

9. At the stated meetings of the Society, the following 
shall be the order of business : 

1. Reading the proceedings of the last meeting. 

2. Reports and communications from officers. 

3. Reports of the Board of Trustees, and of standing 
committees. 

4. Reports of special committees. 

5. Election of members previously proposed. 

6. Nomination of new members. 

7. Reading of papers, delivery of addresses, and dis- 
cussion thereon. 

8. Miscellaneous business. 

10. Seven members shall constitute a quorum for the 
transaction of business. 

11. The President, or in his absence the Vice-President, 
or in their absence a Chairman pro tempore shall perform all 
the duties pertaining to that office. 



147 

12. The Corresponding Secretary shall have charge of all 
the correspondence and perform all the duties pertaining to 
the same. 

13. The Eecording Secretary shall have charge of the seal, 
charter, by-laws and books of record, and perform all the 
duties pertaining to his office. 

14. The Treasurer shall collect and keep the funds and 
securities of the Society, and they shall be deposited in a 
safe bank to the credit of the Society, and only drawn there- 
from on his check, for the purposes of the Societ}^, and by 
the approval of the Executive Committee. He shall keep a 
true account and report the same to the Society and to the 
Finance Committee whenever either of them shall require. 

15. The Librarian shall have charge of the Library and be 
general custodian of all the books, maps, pamphlets, pic- 
tures, and all other property contributed to the Society. He 
may receive and arrange articles loaned to the Society and 
sign a receipt for the same, to be returned when called for by 
the owners thereof. 

16. Library regulations : 

1. No book or other article shall at any time be lent to 

any person to be removed from the library, except 
by express consent of the Board of Trustees. 

2. No paper or manuscript read before the Society and 

deposited therewith, shall be published except by 
the consent of the Trustees and the author. 

3. All members may have access to the rooms at any 

reasonable times, and may consult and examine 
any book or manuscript, except such as may be 
designated by the Trustees. But no person not a 
member shall have such privilege except a donor, 
or one introduced by a member, or by special 
authority of the Executive Committee. 

4. Any injury done to books or other articles shall be 



148 

reported by the Librarian to the Executive Com- 
mittee, and the damage shall be required for such 
injury. 

17. The Board of Trustees shall have charge and control 
of the business and property of the Society. 

The Vice-President shall be ex officio Chairman, and the 
Eecording Secretary shall be Secretary of the Board. They 
shall have charge and general supervision and management 
of the rooms and all the property and funds of the Society. 
They shall meet monthly at the rooms the evening before 
the regular meeting, and four members shall be a quorum to 
do business. 

The Chairman shall appoint from their number: 
1st, An Executive Committee. 
2d, A Finance Committee. 

3d, A Membership Committee, consisting of three 
members each. 

18. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to 
solicit donations and contributions, to propose and digest 
business for the Society ; to authorize disbursements and 
expenditures of unappropriated money in the Treasury for 
the payment of current expenses of the Society, and for 
Library, purchase of books, printing and binding ; but no 
expenditure or liability shall be made at any time, exceed- 
ing the amount of cash in the Treasury, and the available 
assests of the Society. 

The committee shall have a general superintendence of 
the interests of the Society under the control and direction 
of the Board of Trustees, and report to them as often as may 
be required. 

19. The Finance Committee shall examine the books and 
accounts of the Treasurer, and audit all bills and accounts 
against the Society, and be able to report at all times the 
condition of the Society as to funds, etc. 



149 

20. The Committee on Membership shall report on all 
nominations for membership before an election shall be had. 

21. The President shall appoint a committee of five mem- 
bers of the Society, to which shall be referred all papers and 
addresses presented to the Society, and said Committee shall 
examine the same, and give notice of the time of the reading 
of any paper before the Society. Tt shall also be their duty 
to solicit and provide some paper on a subject in the second 
by-law designated, to be read at each meeting ; and shall 
give public notice of the same. 

22. Amendments or alterations of the By-Laws may be 
made by a majority vote at any regular meeting, provided 
such an amendment or alteration shall have been prepared 
and entered upon the minutes at a meeting held at least 
four weeks previous, with the name of the member propos- 
ing; the same. 



OFFICERS— 1884. 



President, 
CHARLES HAWLEY, D. D. 

Vice President, 
GEN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

Corresponding Secretary, 
BENJAMIN B. SNOW. 

Recording Secretary, 
NELSON B. ELDRED. 

Treasurer, 
DAVID M. DUNNING. 

Librarian, 
JOHN H. OSBORNE. 
Trustees : 
John H. Osborne, Benjamin B. Snow, 

Lewis E. Lyon, D. Warren Adams, 

James D. Button, M. D., David M. Dunning, 

William G. Wise. 



STANDING COMMITTEES: 

On Papers, 

Lewis E. Lyon, John II. Osborne, 

H. D. W^ooDRUFF, Byron C. Smith, 

Frederick I. Allen. 

On Membership, 
James D. Button, B. B. Snow, 

William G. Wise, 

On Finance, 
D. M. Dunning, D. W. Adams, 

Lewis E. Lyon. 

Executive Committee, 
B. B. Snow, J. H. Osborne, 

Lewis E. Lyon. 



LIST OF MEMBERS. 



HONORARY. 



Hon. Andrew D. White, 
Hon. Fred'k W. Seward, 
fHoN. Henry Farnham, 
Hon. Roscoe Conkling, 
William P. Letchworth, Esq. 
Henry Ivison, Esq., 
Joseph Thomas, LL. D., 
Hon. Samuel R. Wells, 
Sevellon a. Brown. Esq. 
Wm. H. Lewis, Esq., 
Henry B. Dawson, 
Maj. Gen. Wm. S. Stryker, 



Ithaca, N. Y. 
Washington. 
New Haven, Ct. 
Utica, N. Y. 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
New York City. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Waterloo, N. Y. 
Washington. 
Katonah, N. Y. 
Morrisania, N. Y, 
Trenton, N. J. 



RESIDENT. 



Ret. Charles Hawley, D. D. 

Gen. Wm. H. Seward, 
*Rev. Samuel W. Duffif.ld, 

Benjamin B. Snow, 

Rev. William Searls, D. D. 
f J. Lewis Grant, 

Dennis R. Alward, 

David M. Dunning, 

Dr. J. D. Button, 

John H. Osborne, 

Dr. Blanchard Fosgate, 

Lewis E. Carpenter, 
fDR. David H. Armstrong, 

James Seymour, Jr., 

William G. Wise, 

Dr. S. Willard, 
fSiLAS L. Bradley 

Frank P. Taber, 



D. M. Osborne, 
Otis M. Goddard, 

fF. L. Griswold, 

Byron C. Smith, 
*William a. Baker, 

Charles A. Smith, 

W. Del. Baldwin, 

Gorton W. Allen, 

w. hollister, 

Edwin R. Fay, 

Alonzo G. Beardsley, Jr. 

Charles J. Reed, 

David Wadsworth, 

Charles M. Baker, 

Horace J. Knapp, 

George R. Peck, 

Gen. John N. Knapp, 

E. Delevan Woodruff, 



* Removed from city, 
t Deceased. 



X 



152 

Ed. S. Newton, 
William H. Carpenter, 
Delamer E. Clapp, 
A. W. Lawton, 
Bradley A. Tuttle, 
Orlando Lewis, 
fRuFUS Sargent, 
Wm. H. Meaker, 
Henry A. Morgan, 
N. Lansing Zabriskie, 
C, D. MacDougall, 
Richard S. Holmes, 
Lewis Hunt, 
David Wright, 
George W. Richardson, 
George W. Elliott, 
Fred'k I. Allen, 
Walter Ogden, 
Oscar F. Knapp, 
Rev. C. C. Hemenwav, 
fCHARLES C. Button, 

Rev. R. B. Welch, D. D., 
W. O. Luce, 

P. S. Hadger, 
W. F. Wait, 

Arthur E. Slocum, 

H. D. Woodruff, 

Charles G. Briggs, 

Mrs. Amanda Sanford-Hickey, 

Mrs. Josiah Letchworth, 

E. B. Green, 

H. D. Titus, 

R. H. Bloom. 



Nelson B. Eldred, 
Charles Standart, 
Charles E. Thorne, 
Joseph W. Dunning, 

•f-TERENCE J. Kennedy, 
Lewis E. Lyon, 

*Josiah Letchworth, 

*E. H. Underhill, 
Horace V. Howland, 
Ebenezer B. Jones, 

•j-H. J. Brown, 
Chas. H. Carpenter, 

C. Wheeler, Jr., 
James G, Kkapp, 
James R. Cox, 
Willard E. Case, 
E. H. Townsend, 

Mrs. Hannah S. Howland, 

fH. J. Sartwell, 
A. H. Clark, 
Rev. W. J. Beecher, 
Arthur A. Boyd, 
Wm. p. Beardsley, 

f Abijah Fitch 
Rev. W. H. Allbright, 

D. Warren Adams, 
Miss Emily Howland, 
Mrs. Jas. Seymour, Jr., 

M. D., Mrs. Wm. H. Seward, 

Mrs. Theo. M. Pomeroy, 

Geo. W. King, . 

J. M. Elliott. 

Mrs. Charles Hawley. 

George R. Cutting. 



♦Removed from city. 
tDeceased. 



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